Revival of the seal (Formerly Return to the metaverse)
by Starbreaker195
Summary: "Why is the Nav App back on my phone?" Akira wondered aloud frustration building. "I dont know! We destroyed it two years ago! But more importantly, why did that kid have the app too? What was his name again? Lucas?" Morgana asked. "Yea... we'll have to investigate later" Akira said "In the meantime, let's head to leblanc, we have some people to surprise."
1. Chapter 1

**Return of the Metaverse (Persona 5)**

 **Full description: Akira Kurusu returns to Shibuya two years after returning back home, in the hopes of finally living a normal life, but the game is cruel, and when stepping off the train he finds the Metaverse nav app has returned to his phone he sighs, knowing it's not over yet. Join him and the OC as he discovers his powers in the midst of his severe depression.**

 _Prologue_

*Sigh* The boy went, as he stepped off the the train, still fighting the jet lag the flight had given him from America to Japan, looking around hoping, _praying_ almost for any English sign to tell him where the hell he was supposed to go.

No such luck, he sighed again and ran his hands through his white blonde hair, clasping his hands behind his neck. He looked at the train tracks, briefly wondering if he should just throw himself onto the tracks when a train got close.

He shook those thought's from his head, his mother had died from cancer not to long ago, and his father killed himself in grief, with nowhere to go an uncle of his mother he barely knew decided to take custody of him. What He didn't know though when he accepted was that the uncle he hardly knew was in fucking Japan, or Shibuya, wherever the hell he was right now.

"Lucas? Lucas is that you?" A voice said, the voice made the boy whip around, eyebrows raised.

Who appeared before him was obviously the male version of his mother, which Lucas deduced to being his uncle, the same white blonde hair she and he had, the same facial structure, same grey eye's.

Definitely, this was his uncle. Christopher Takumi. He looked exactly liked Lucas' mother and in turn looked a lot like Lucas himself. The only difference Lucas' hair was unruly, and his eye's were amethyst. The eye's he got from his father.

Lucas snapped out of his revere. "Uh, yea. I am." He said awkwardly, a tension in the air he couldn't quite place.

Suddenly he was crushed in a massive hug that Lucas fought to get out of, but Christopher had a surprisingly strong grip.

"I'm so sorry about Rebecca and Michael, Lucas. I wished I could have been there for their funerals." Christopher said, remorse evident in his voice.

Lucas wiggled his way out of the grip finally, the statement making Lucas sink further into his depression and thoughts.

"Yea. It's whatever now." He said, and internally winced, he sounded like he didn't care that they were gone. Which just made him feel worse. But he couldn't help it, he hasn't talked much since his family died.

"Well… None of that matters right now. What matters is that I bring you to your new home with me. Also, take this." Christopher handed him a book, Lucas opened it and realized that it was a translative dictionary, English to Japanese. How to read and write it, as well as speak it.

"Oh. I see, I guess I need to learn this crap now don't I?" Lucas said and Christopher's eye's narrowed a fraction.

"It's not crap, you're a third year in high school now. And the sudden change is going to be hard to get used too. That dictionary will help you learn. I'll also be teaching you whenever I can. For today though I will be showing you around Shibuya, and I'll enroll you into your school, Shujin academy. Then I'll take you to our home, a nice little place in an area called yongen jaya." He responded.

Lucas sighed. "Whatever." He mumbled and walked after his uncle, putting the dictionary in his bag. He had absolutely no idea what those areas were, and he didn't really care to.

His uncle led him to a honda accord, Lucas made to get in but then realized the wheel was on the wrong side of the car. He looked at his uncle in disbelief to which he was trying not to laugh.

"First thing about Japan Lucas, vehicles are opposite because the roads are. You'll get used to it eventually." Christopher explained.

Lucas already felt a headache forming, but silently got into the passengers seat on the left of the car, without word, he hardly registered the car starting and his uncle chatting away about whatever, he was currently staring at his phone in confusion.

He didn't remember downloading an app with a red eye onto his phone. Shrugging his shoulders he deleted it and thought nothing more of it.

 _Must be the jet-lag_. He thought. _Making me forget crap._ Suddenly he felt a spike of intense pain in his head, strong enough to make him gasp and lean forward.

"Lucas? Lucas what's wrong!" Christopher, noticing it, worry creasing his features.

Then suddenly, it was gone. All pain he had felt had seemingly disappeared, granted he still felt a bit sick. N-Nothing, just jet-lag." He replied.

Christopher pursed his lips, then shook his head. "I think I'll just be taking you home today instead of enrolling and showing you around, you must be very tired after such a long flight, so instead I'll just show you around Yongen jaya.

Lucas nodded his head, and closed his eyes, letting sleep take him.

 **Author's note: I absolutely LOVED persona 5 and all it's characters. It was such an amazing game, I'll also be using the name Akira Kurusu instead of Ren amamiya because that's what's familiar to me. Also, while Lucas is the "Main character" of this story I wont be neglecting the other's. I'll try my best to bring each character into their respective personalities. Granted this may be difficult since I am a rookie writer.**

 **Also note. This is set after the events of the game two years later. As a result Akira already has a pairing. And the pairing is Makoto. (Because Makoto is best girl) Nuff said. Anyway's hope you all enjoyed this prologue. Next chapter will be much longer. Also this is a hobby so my update's will be inconsistent. But I wont abandon it.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Akira Kurusu couldn't help his nerves as the train pulled into Yongen jaya station, it had been two long years since he had been there. And the stress admittedly was starting to get to him a bit.

He hadn't told anyone he was coming down, and he was worried they may not be around anymore, what with Ann's modeling career, Ryuji becoming a star runner, Yusuke a master artist worldly known, Haru taking complete control over super foods. Makoto, his girlfriend (who he hasn't seen in almost a year and is really missing her) finishing college, already one of the most renowned detectives since Goro Akechi.

Then him… Nothing remarkable. Absolutely nothing, it was so pathetic that it was almost a joke. The only time he had been worth something, atleast in his own eyes was when he was Joker, when the metaverse still existed.

The only ones he wasn't worried about was Morgana, who was sleeping in his bag, and Futaba, who finally started going to high school thanks to Sojiro .

"It will be okay, I'm sure they'll be glad to see us both." A sleepy voice said, he looked down at Morgana, the black cat's blue eye's glimmering friendly up at him.

"Right." Akira responded, to which Morgana sighed.

"Oh no you don't, you aren't going back to your little silent phase like two years ago just because your nervous, buck up Akira. They have totally missed you."

"Sorry Morgana, I can't help being nervous about some things." Akira said, twisting a strand of his unruly black hair, one of his habits when he was nervous.

"Makoto still loves you, so you can calm down about that too." Morgana said bluntly, making Akira blush a little.

"In any case, I'm sure you remember how to get there right?"

"Of course, I do, just a bit rusty but it's coming back to me." Akira said as he ducked through an alley, remembering a shortcut to get to Yongen, jogging a little with anticipation.

He turned the corner and slammed into someone, knocking them both down, Morgana yelling as he and the bag flew off a couple of feet away, the boy said something in a language he didn't know, which an adult beside him responded in the same language. By his tone it was a reprimand which made Akira think the boy cursed.

Then the older man stuck his hand out to help Akira up, which he took gratefully. "I apologize for my nephew, he wasn't watching where he was going, please forgive us." He said and bowed slightly, as the white-haired boy got up dusting himself off in frustration.

Akira took a better look at them both, they were clearly American, or at least mostly, both having the same hair color and facial structure, difference being the boy had unruly hair and his eye's were a startling amethyst color.

"MEEOOOWWW, how could you let him do that Akira!?" Morgana mewled, dragging himself out of the bag and leaping into Akira's arms.

Akira chuckled a little bit. "Sorry Morgana, and it's fine by the way sir, no harm done, I'm Akira Kurusu." He held his hand out to the older man.

He took it. "I'm Christopher Takumi, and this is my nephew Lucas, he just moved down from America today, so he's a bit tired and grumpy, plus he doesn't know a lick of Japanese."

The boy said something in English, Akira hardly understanding any of it, to which Christopher gave a stern glare, he then turned back to face Akira, noting how dirty his clothes had become cause of the fall.

"I'm sorry about your clothes, please allow me to pay for your dry cleaning, here, let me and your son get your contact info, so we can contact you, we live here in Yongen Jaya." Christopher said and took out his phone.

Akira took out his phone smiling until he saw what was on it, his body froze, and his throat closed up, staring right back at him was a red eye.

 _Why? Why is the Nav app back on my phone? We destroyed the Metaverse two years ago!_

"Is everything okay Kurusu-kun? You look a little sick." Christopher noted.

Akira blinked a couple of times and shook his head. Quickly deleting the app from his phone, praying it wouldn't show up again. "I'm fine, just a bit tired myself, long train ride, here's my contact info." He said, a couple beeps ringing from his and Christopher's phone.

He then walked over to Lucas. Who was fiddling with his phone in annoyance. Akira chuckled. "Don't know what to do with it? Here, I'll do it for you." Akira said which Christopher translated.

Lucas eyed Akira with suspicion but handed him the phone, with a smile he went to add his number in, but nearly dropped the phone in shock, Akira went slack-jawed.

The Fucking Nav app was also on Lucas' phone, coming back to himself he quickly added his number to it and handed it back to Lucas, who took it a bit too quickly.

"Everything okay? You really look sick Kurusu-kun." Christopher said. Akira shook his head and forced a smile.

"I'm fine but I must be going now, nice meeting you guys!" He said and took off before they could respond.

"Morgana." Akira began but was interrupted by him.

"I know, I saw it too but… we destroyed the Metaverse, it shouldn't be on your phone let alone Lucas' and by the way he was acting he was just as confused. Which means he hasn't activated the app yet, chances are he's already deleted it at least once." Morgana said gravely.

"But what the hell does this mean then! Does it mean the Metaverse has returned?" Akira asked, frustration building inside him.

"I-I don't know! All we can do is speculate, for now the we should just head to Leblanc, some people are gonna be very happy to see us." Morgana said, happiness in his voice.

The words calmed Akira, and the excitement that was building inside him came back. Pushing the metaverse from his mind with a grin he started sprinting, completely remembering the way now.

A short while later he found himself in front of Leblanc, excitement full to bursting, Nostalgia filling him at the old look of the place, well maintained and taken care of.

He raised his hand to the door handle but froze, suddenly that excitement shifted to anxiety and he found it hard to stop his hand from shaking. He couldn't stop the depressing thoughts from running through his head.

What if Sojiro wasn't happy to see him? What if he didn't want too? What if he forgot about him? After all… he was just the kid with the criminal record. All his friends had become something special after he left, and he hasn't.

"Calm down Akira, the day you left two years ago, he was close to tears, I'm sure he'll be super excited to see you." Morgana, sensing his fears comforted him.

Akira nodded. "Right." He responded, to which Morgana sighed in content.

"What would you do without me around?" He joked.

Akira shook his head and opened the door, the chiming bell sending a wave of nostalgia through him. Sojiro was sitting at one of the bar stools working on a crossword puzzle with an elderly couple relaxing in one of the booths.

"Welcome to Leblanc, have a seat and ill be right with you." He said without looking up from his puzzle.

"Maybe later, when everyone else is here." Akira responded, Sojiro's eyes whipped up, dropping his puzzle in shock with widened eyes.

He stared at Akira, mouth opening and closing, but not speaking, he blinked a couple of times, then turned to the elderly couple sitting down, watching the exchange with curios eyes.

"I appreciate your patronage, but I'm afraid I'm gonna have to ask you to leave, A family emergency just came up." Sojiro said.

They elderly couple looked at each other, then got up and left without a word, Sojiro following behind them to close up the shop, he then turned back to look at Akira, surprisingly, there was anger behind his glasses.

"Two years, two goddamn years and not a single call, and of all times you show up here." Sojiro said while stalking towards a suddenly nervous Akira.

"Ahaha…. Sorry Boss, I lost the number to this place and couldn't remember it, I haven't even seen the others for over a year now, I'm sorry." Akira explained with hands raised in a surrender position.

Sojiro threw his arms around Akira, pulling him into a tight hug, Akira who was in shock took a moment to respond before smiling and returning the hug, Sojiro suddenly released him and shoved Akira away, a sheepish look on his face.

"That didn't happen okay you brat?" Sojiro said causing Akira to burst into laughter, all previous anxiety gone.

"You haven't changed much have you boss? Hey, can you call everyone here to Leblanc? I want it to be a surprise for them." Akira requested.

"Hmm sure kid, just let me close up shop fully. Hey, can you go out and get me more ingredients for the curry? Here's a list." Sojiro said, walking off to prepare for tomorrow.

Akira chuckled, "Of course Sojiro." He said and headed out.

 **Line break**

Forty-five minutes later four young adults and one high-schooler walked into Leblanc, where Sojiro was waiting.

"Hello everyone." Sojiro greeted. "Thanks for coming."

"Yo wassup bossman?" A dyed-blond haired boy said, Ryuji.

"Good evening boss!" A stunning ash blond haired girl greeted with a grin, Ann.

"Sojirooooo, why'd you call me? I was in the middle of a run on my game." An orange haired high schooler mourned, Futaba.

"Oh, Hello Sojiro, I see Sayuri is still as radiant as ever." An elegant blue haired boy said, Yusuke.

"Sorry for the intrusion boss, and for our tardiness, I was in the middle of a case." A brown-haired girl apologized, Makoto.

"That's quite all right, you all have a seat, I'll bring you some curry." Sojiro said already grabbing plates.

"Of course, if you don't mind me asking how come you've called us all here today, it's been quite awhile since you have, oh by the way, Haru is going to be late, something came up with superfoods apparently." Makoto said.

"Yea man, we haven't all been together at once since we drove Akira back to his hometown two years ago." Ryuji said, a brief look of sadness appearing over his face.

"Today is the anniversary of the day Akira left to go back home, so I'd thought it'd be nice to call you all here." Sojiro half lied.

"Oh yea, it's March 20th today aint it, shit man I almost forgot about that." Ryuji said.

"To think today would be the day all of this technically ended, yet I find myself unable to complain." Yusuke said with a content smile.

"Totally, I didn't realize it until after he left but Akira was an amazing friend, I really miss him." Ann said smiling.

"Oh? Should I be concerned about that Takamaki-san?" Makoto responded with a cheesy grin, everybody chuckled.

"Hey boss-man, where's that curry you were promising, I'm stoked to eat it again." Ryuji said.

Sojiro chuckled. "I ran out of some ingredients, and forgot that I sent someone to get more, so I'll make it for you when he get's back then, on the house."

"That's like getting a boss item without fighting the boss! Of course that's always the case with me." Futaba bragged.

"Grr, your lucky you have such a cool dad Futaba." Ryuji growled at her, Futaba just grinned.

The store bell suddenly chimed and Akira strolled through the door. "Hey Sojiro, I got all the stuff you needed me to…." He trailed off as he stared at all his friends, Morgana already looking over his shoulder grinning his cat grin.

It was completely silent for a few seconds, everyone to shocked to move Except Morgana who jumped onto a table and started licking his paws waiting. The first person to move was Makoto, who literally screamed as she flung herself into Akira.

That broke the stunned silence, as everyone shouted and ran to Akira, patting him on the back and hugging him.

"D-don't hog him all for yourself Makoto!" Ryuji said, Makoto just squeezed Akira tighter, ignoring Ryuji.

"Why didn't you tell us you were coming by!?" Ann asked, a grin threatening to crack her face in half.

"I must say it brings me great joy to see you again my friend." Yusuke said, a hand on Akira's shoulder.

"Quest started! Hug the crap out of Akira!" Futaba said clinging onto his arm.

"Ha ha, I missed you guys too." Akira said, a smile dancing on his lips.

He finally returned Makoto's hug, who snuggled into him when he did so, he leaned down and whispered in her ear.

"I missed you the most Makoto, it's great to see you." He said making her breath hitch.

"I love you…" She whispered back, then finally released him.

"HEY! You all forget about me over here? I don't believe this, there are two people you haven't seen in a while." Morgana demanded.

"Nuh uh! You're a cat Morgana." Ryuji teased which made Morgana hiss at him.

Ann picked Morgana up and cuddled him to her chest, suddenly he got a lot happier. "We missed you too Morgana.

"I hope you didn't crush the ingredients during all of that." Sojiro said coming from behind the counter.

Futaba whirled around on him with a glare. "Why didn't you tell us he was coming!" She demanded.

"H-he wanted it to be a surprise! I wouldn't have hid it otherwise." Sojiro explained

"Let's not worry about that right now, Akira's back with us, this calls for one hell of a celebration!" Ann said.

"HELL YEA, LET'S DO THIS." Ryuji shouted, Ann smacking him upside the head.

"I want udon." Yusuke said.

"You'll just have to live with curry, coffee and soda Kitagawa-kun." Sojiro said, then looked at Akira. "You still know how to make curry kiddo?"

"Yea, want some help?"

"Put the stuff down and grab an apron, oh and don't forget to wash your hands." Sojiro commanded.

"Yea yea." Akira said.

 **LINE BREAK Lucas' POV**

"Welcome to your new home Lucas, It's kinda modest but it's mine." Christopher said unlocking the door.

 _Modest my ass, this house is huge compared to the other ones in Yongen._ Lucas thought as he looked around.

It looked like one of those old Japanese dojos' you see in anime, white and brown hardwood floors, A golden chandelier hanging from the ceiling. There were doors

Leading off to other rooms, (also old looking, they were those sliding doors, just wooden.) and from where he was standing he could see a kitchen that was double the size of his room in America.

"This is modest? I'm almost worried what counts as luxurious in Japan if this is modest uncle." Lucas called out as Christopher came out of another room in the house. A bedroom it looked like.

"That's right, You, Rebecca and Michael were not exactly rich weren't you." Christopher said, a sympathetic look on his face.

It irked a Lucas a little bit. "We weren't, but we made it work, we survived with each other, as a team and as a family…. But now…." Lucas choked on the last bit.

Christopher put his hand on his shoulder in sympathy. "Hey, I'm sorry. I- *sigh* I shouldn't have said that, I should have considered your thought's more and not spoke recklessly."

Lucas nodded his head. "I'm over it." He said.

"You sure?"

"Yes."

"Okay then, follow me so I can show you your room, I had some people come in and clean it out already, and the stuff you couldn't take with you on the train is here already." Christopher said while walking up stairs, Lucas trailing behind him, bad thought's going through his mind.

"Here it is, I didn't know what room downstairs you would find fitting to your size, so I just went for this as a compromise." Christopher explained.

"It's big." Lucas said. Which was no lie, the room was at least double the size of his own room back in America, the same white and brown color's present here as they were downstairs.

"I hope that is a good thing, now I need to go to work okay? I'm a lawyer for the police and there's a case I need to get to, so I'll see you later okay? Feel free to roam around, you can go outside and wander around Yongen, but don't go any farther, not until you learn some Japanese understand?" Christopher asked.

"Kay."

Christopher hesitated for a second, then shook his head and walked away, leaving Lucas alone with his thoughts.

*Sigh* "I hate it here already, but there's nothing I can do about it now… God damnit dad why'd you have to go and kill yourself…" Lucas said to no one.

He walked over to the box that had his stuff in it. "Might as well unpack this crap."

 **Two hours later.**

"Christ man that took way too long… ugh… no matter, what time is it anyway?" Lucas thought as he took out his phone.

"11:30? So late already? No wonder I feel so-" Lucas stumbled over his words as he looked at his app section.

"Why… why is the fucking creepy red eye back on my phone! I've deleted it three times already!" Lucas said to himself in anger. He dragged the app back to the trash bin on his phone, but the second it disappeared it materialized back where it was prior.

"Wha-what the hell?" Lucas wondered. "What the hell is this crazy shit?" Lucas tapped on the app to open it.

"It's some kinda navigation app, but why cant I delete it? Did coming to Japan put a virus on my phone?"

"Welcome to the metaverse navigation app! Here you can go into the palace's of those with distorted desires and steal them! However to use this app you must find someone with strong distorted desires, happy hunting Persona user!" A female robotic voice spoke out from Lucas' phone.

In a panic he dropped the phone, it bouncing across the wood floor under the bed.

"Distorted desires? Stealing? Persona user? Palace's?! I AM SO NOT DOWN WITH THIS CREEPY CRAP!" Lucas' yelled, fear clutching at his chest.

As he tried to calm down what he didn't know was that he wasn't the only one freaking out about this.

 **LINE BREAK AKIRA POV**

"What…. What the hell?" Ryuji said to his phone, everybody's thought's on a similar wavelength.

"I-impossible, absolutely impossible, we destroyed it two years ago." Yusuke declared, his voice shaky with disbelief.

"I know right?! I thought we were done with all of this stuff when we defeated that malignant god Yaldabaoth." Ann said, a little fear in her voice.

"We beat the final boss, why is there an after scene that took this long to get too?" Futaba said, confused.

"Under no circumstances should this be possible… so why?" Makoto said, theorizing.

Haru who had finally shown up (Who nearly screamed with happiness when she saw Akira). "Maybe… there's more than we thought? After all… Morgana is here with us and he was created from the velvet room right?"

"That's very true, but Mementos, the metaverse and the Velvet room are completely different things. Not even I know everything." Morgana said.

Akira had gone quiet, his thoughts drifting to the American teenager and his uncle he'd met a few hours ago, Lucas his name was. He had the metaverse app on his phone.

"I… Have something I need to tell you guys." Akira announced, silencing his friends.

"What's wrong Akira?" Ryuji asked when Akira started to hesitate.

"We… aren't the only ones that have the metaverse app on our phones." Akira said.

Everyone's eyes widened. "H-how can you be certain?" Makoto asked.

"*Sigh* thank god Sojiro went home, I'm not sure he could handle this news." Futaba mumbled.

"To think another Persona user would be around us, I haven't been this shocked since we found out Akechi had a persona." Yusuke said.

"Yea but Akechi is dead so…" Ann trailed off.

"And he did betray us, granted nowadays I understand why he did what he did." Ryuji said.

"I still haven't forgiven him fully for what he did to my father, but I hope he finally is resting in peace." Haru said.

"Let's get back on subject guys, the other Persona user lives in Yongen of all places so he's close to us, also, he's American and doesn't know Japanese so communicating with him will be very difficult." Morgana explained.

"Wait he's American? Ann you have some competition." Ryuji teased earning a glare from her.

"What are you saying Morgana, that because of this we should leave him alone?" Makoto asked.

"NO! Not at all, I'm just saying we should think about this before we get potentially involved with him, what if he turns out to be a traitor like Akechi?" Morgana countered.

That made everybody go silent, Morgana had basically brought up the biggest hesitation in the group, the biggest what if, Akira spoke up.

"We'll have to take that risk, he could turn out to be a great ally, and it's better to try than to not try at all."

At his words everyone started smiling in agreement. But then Ryuji spoke again.

"Wait, hold up guys." Everyone turned to look at him, the sudden attention making him jump. "Wh-what if we cant use our Persona's anymore, after all we did destroy the metaverse, losing our ability to summon our Persona's in the process, what if we cant do anything?" He questioned.

"That's remarkably smart of you Ryuji, looks like you've gotten a bit smarter in these past two years." Futaba teased earning a glare from Ryuji, making everybody laugh as well. "But he is right as much as I hate to admit it, what do you think Morgana?"

"Hmm, I think we'll be okay, it stands to reason that since the metaverse is back, wouldn't our ability to summon Persona's be back as well, going based off that I think we'll be fine." Morgana answered.

"Then its settled then, tomorrow we reach out to the other Persona user, everybody, let's mark this as a special day, the return of the phantom thieves!" Akira said raising his fist to the air.

A cheer resounded through Leblanc.

"I don't feel like going home yet, so Iet's watch the news, you haven't heard about this yet probably Akira, but there's apparently a serial killer in Shibuya, body's are always found there, and it's been terrifying the public lately." Ryuji explained, while clicking on the tv.

"Apparently, according to the police another body has been found, this victim is the same as the other's as their heart is completely missing from their bodies, with a large X cut into the chest of the victim. This victim has been reported to be in his mid to late thirties, no name has been released as of this time, we will report back to you when we have more information. On a side note the Police have finally named this serial killer, his name from now on will be the Heart thief as he steals the hearts of his victims." The female newscaster said.

 **LINE BREAK Lucas Pov**

"Steals the hearts of his victims? What is this fanfiction? Who comes up with these names?" Lucas said, huddling up under a blanket watching tv with English subtitles.

"Whatever, it doesn't concern me right now." He said and looked at his phone, when he finally calmed down enough to grab it from under the bed he immediately turned it off and hasn't cut it back on since.

"The metaverse…. And all the strange stuff about Persona's. *Sigh* why me?"

 _I'm tired…. Guess I'll just go to sleep, I have to go to Shujin tomorrow with uncle, and it's already 1:30, god I wish I could just sleep forever, it's so much better than facing reality, ever since my family died…. I want to die…_

Those thoughts went with Lucas as he was dragged into the darkness of sleep.

 **LINE BREAK Akira**

"Seems like everyone's finally gone, it's been awhile since it's been just us two." Makoto said to Akira.

"Yea, I agree I've missed you Makoto. You were the only thing on my mind for the most part on my way here." Akira responded, a smile dancing on his lips.

Makoto just about melted. "H-how can you say things like that so easily? Geeze you haven't changed at all."

"Ha ha! I just say the things I truly feel, I've missed you Makoto." Akira responded as he got up and sat beside her, cupping her face.

"I love you so much, it just about drove me mad when you hugged me an hour ago." Akira said, his trademark smirk on his face, making Makoto's chest dance.

Makoto had always thought it was remarkable how Akira's personality would switch, in public he was quiet and unassuming, however with all their friends he was sassy and teasing and joked around all the time.

These thoughts were going through her head as Akira's lips touched hers, making her brain short out, he gripped her sides and pulled her closer just about driving her mad as she gripped the collar of his shirt and basically tried to eat his face.

 _God I've missed this._ Akira thought, knowing that Makoto was thinking the same thing.

With no one around they enjoyed a very romantic reunion together, about a year to late but… better late than never right?

 **A/N: Hope you all enjoyed this chapter, I made it a longer one in response to me having a very short chapter for my first one. I hope you enjoyed it, if you did please review and tell me what you think so far of the characters, especially my OC. I want to know how you all feel about him.**


	3. Chapter 3

"What the hell?! Where am I? Why am I in a desert?" Lucas yelled, last he remembered he was sleeping, and he knew there were no deserts in Japan. But still… this desert felt different… Lifeless, it was cold.

"How the hell is this even possible?" He wondered, confused, scared.

"My, how interesting my newest guest is." A voice behind him said, sending chills down his spine he whirled around to find a bizarre old man with a long nose, pointed ears and bulging, bloodshot eyes, wearing a black suit with white gloves.

Getting even more strange he was sitting at a desk, _in the middle of a goddamn desert_. Lucas laughed a breathless laugh and wondered if he was going insane.

"This… this cant be real, what is this - who are you?" He demanded to the old man, responding with a chuckle.

"I am Igor, and this child, is your heart. This place represents the state of your heart, even I have never seen it like this. Your heart must be dying, along with your rebellion." Igor said.

"My… heart, and…. My rebellion? What are you talking about?!"

"You are confused, this is understandable, until today you have never seen this place and how could you? Not knowing of our world at all until I bestowed upon you your app."

"My app? What are you talking about? Wait, that creepy eye on my phone!?" Lucas demanded, frustration growing.

"Precisely, however you keep deleting it, denying the seed of rebellion inside you, your power, your persona. It reminds me of a certain someone that was once here long ago." Igor said.

"I don't understand any of this." Lucas said, with a defeated sigh.

"I do not expect this of you, just know this, you are the key. You will break the seal, you will save him from his fate." Igor said, confidence in his voice.

"Save who?"

"All in due time, but for now let us talk about you, wild card user."

"Wild card user? What is that?"

"Usually, a persona user can only use on persona, however, sometimes, a wild card comes along, a zero. A joker, can come along and use multiple personas, the masks people use in society, manifested into one, become multiples for another."

"And your saying… I'm a persona user? Not only that? A wild card?"

"Yes, however…. You are different than the past users of the wild card, something about your power is different, even I do not know your full potential."

"But that's impossible! I cant even use one persona, let alone several at once, so there's no way I can use multiple, Igor."

"Ah, that is because you have not awakened yet. However very soon you will." Igor said.

Suddenly a sandstorm picked up, rough winds and sand flying everywhere, nearly pushing Lucas over.

"Ah… it appears I have overstayed my welcome, your heart is pushing me out, *Chuckle* this has never happened before. You truly are a unique one, until next time. Wild card." Igor said, shimmering into nothingness.

Lucas suddenly felt very tired and passed out. The storm raging around him.

 **The next morning**

Lucas woke up gasping for air, clutching his hammering chest. The dream so fresh in his memory it was almost real, his first thought to dismiss it as nothing but madness, that he was just grieving over his parents and his mind was making up bullshit.

 _Oh who am I kidding, that was to real feeling to be just a dream… If what Igor said is true… then I'm a persona user. And I shouldn't be afraid of that app, that in fact… I'm the key to saving someone? But… who is that someone? Why does he need to be saved?_ Lucas thought, sighing and lying back down.

"Screw getting up, I'm going back to sleep." He mumbled, letting darkness take him, suddenly his door flew open banging against the back wall, scaring him awake.

"Wh-what the fuck?" Lucas started, heart pounding in his chest

"Get up Lucas, I'm taking you to enroll at Shujin Academy today and I need you awake and alert." Christopher said shaking Lucas in his bed.

 _Oh right, that's today._ He thought.

Lucas groaned and batted Christopher's hand away, begrudgingly getting up and heading to his closet, after getting dressed and brushing his teeth, leaving his white blond messy hair alone (He didn't feel like doing anything with it) he followed Christopher (Who looked impatient for some reason) into his car.

"Now I'm gonna tell you this, I'm driving you today, but your taking the train starting tomorrow understand? I'm not your chauffer and your not making me one." Christopher said, strange hostility in his voice annoying Lucas.

"Who pissed in your cereal this morning?" Lucas asked, trying to keep the sarcasm out of his voice, pain streaked across his cheek suddenly, he was so in shock from it that it took him a moment to realize what happened.

His uncle had slapped him, for no reason, when he looked back at his uncle he was glaring at Lucas with such hostility that he was surprised it didn't kill him. "Don't you ever speak like that to me again you little punk! UNDERSTAND?!" Christopher shouted.

Lucas slumped into his seat, numbness coating over his emotions, a habit he picked up after his family's death, he welcomed it. "Understood…" He mumbled. _So all that kindness and understanding and concern was just bullshit wasn't it… he put on that act in front of everyone, but know that were alone…. It's like he switched his persona._ Lucas thought numbly back to the words Igor said to him.

 _Masks…. Persona's that people put on… my uncle is one of those sick fucks, put's on the nice guy persona in public and switches to this in private._

" _ **Makes you sick doesn't it?"**_ A male voice spoke inside his head, causing him intense pain enough to where he leaned over in the seat again. He felt a hand on his shoulder and Christopher's voice, but couldn't formulate a response.

" _ **The trash of society, your thoughts were very rebellious just now, a call out to the monsters of humanity, you are so close to it, but still you reject me. I will leave for now, but I hope you will accept me soon, until later my master."**_ The voice said, fading away into the back of his mind, except for one word.

"Per-so-na." Lucas whispered, not aware he said it out loud, but thankfully not loud enough for Christopher to hear.

"Lucas, _Lucas_! Are you okay?" Christopher asked, concern in his tone, Lucas gathered himself and shrug off Christopher's hand, leaning back in the seat and taking a few long breaths.

"I'm fine… just a headache spike." Lucas said, it wasn't technically a lie, his head pain was gone fine he was not.

"Were here." Christopher said as he pulled into the schools parking lot. "Hurry up, I got things I need to do later today and doing this is just taking away from my time."

"It's…. a school day it seems, are you sure we should be enrolling me today?" Lucas asked, wary of Christopher's reaction.

"*Sigh* Normally you'd be right, but I've spoken with the principal today and he said it's fine himself, just ignore the stares you'll get, your American so no doubt you'll get them." Christopher explained.

As they walked into the school Lucas tried to ignore the immediate stares and whispers he got.

" _Is that an American? Wait is he going to be a student here?"_

" _Look at his hair, it's almost white and its so curly."_

" _Hey wait a minute guys? That guy is super freaking hot!"_

Lucas blushed at the last one and walked a bit faster, It was times like these where he wish he didn't have to pretend to not know Japanese, well… How to speak and understand it at least, keeping stride with his uncle, who knocked on a door and went in gesturing him to follow.

Inside an older man of about forty with gray hair and friendly eyes slightly hidden by circular glasses was talking with his uncle gave a bright smile and stood up when he saw him.

"Ah Christopher welcome, and you must be Lucas, the new American transfer student I've heard from your uncle, I understand due to family circumstances you've come from America to Japan, I promise I will see too it that you learn how to overcome your lack of Japanese understanding and that I will help you pass your classes to the best of my staff's ability." The principal said, hand outstretched, Lucas taking it while Christopher needlessly translated all he said.

"Thank you, sir, I promise to do my best." Lucas said, Christopher translating, despite Lucas saying that he already had mentally checked out.

"Oh, where are my manners? My name is Tokashiki kobina. You may address me as principal Kobina." Principal Kobina said in a stern voice but brightened as he walked over to a closet. "Now, here are a couple sets of your school uniform, and here's your student ID."

Lucas took both the item's given to him, a cursory glance at the ID showed him with a smile on his face, happier times that are gone forever now. He put the ID in his pocket.

"Is that everything Tokashiki-san?" Christopher asked him.

"Not quite, I have something I'd like to discuss with you." He gave a look over to Lucas. "In private." He clarified.

Christopher nodded then turned to look at Lucas. "Go put your stuff in the car and wait, I have some thing's I need to talk to about with your principal." He told him.

Lucas nodded and walked out of the office, Christopher waited a few seconds then turned to Tokashiki to speak but instead Tokashiki spoke first.

"So, you've taken him in." Tokashiki said. "Why?"

Christopher shrugged. "His mother died from cancer and his father killed himself, I'm his uncle and he is family." He responded nonchalantly.

"That's what the official record's say. But we both know the truth." Tokashiki said.

Suddenly, all pretenses dropped between both of them, the air seemed to shift, and insane smiles appeared on their faces. "Hehehe, his mother's death from cancer was true, but _you_ are the one who murdered his father after all." Tokashiki said.

Christopher laughed. "My my Tokashiki-san, you and I both know that's not only what I've been doing."

"Your right Christopher, or should I say… _Heart thief_?" Tokashiki mocked, Christopher groaned but let out a chuckle in the end.

"I can't believe those pigs in the department actually gave me a garbage name like that, I don't steal hearts after all. _I eat them_." Christopher said.

They both started laughing then, and just laughed and laughed and laughed.

 **Line break Lucas**

Lucas sat on the hood of the car, waiting for his uncle to come out, the idiot apparently forgot he locked the car so now he was forced to wait and try to ignore the… admittedly appraising looks but still nerve racking until he finished up in there.

Thankfully, it seemed the school day had ended, so while he did get those looks at the same time the other students were more focused on getting home than seeing the new American school mate.

"Hello!" A voice said to him, Japanese, instinctually he turned to the voice, unable to stop himself.

Standing beside him was a medium heighted girl with long orange hair, black rectangular glasses and black and red headphones, over her uniform she wore a green jacket with a fur inside.

Lucas was a very fast thinker, so in order not to answer he pretended he was just looking around in curiosity, however it seemed the girl would not be fooled by that.

"Drop the façade I know you can understand what I'm saying, I don't know why your hiding the fact that you can but I wont pry. I just want you to listen." The girl said.

This time Lucas _did_ look at her, a very subtle nod of his head saying go ahead, instead of speaking however the girl took out her phone and showed it to him, curiosity piqued he looked, and immediately regretted it, his eyes widened and his mouth opened a little struggling to form words.

This random girl from nowhere, had the damn metaverse app, and by the look in her eye she somehow _knew_ he had it too, but how? That didn't matter to Lucas right now, he gripped the girls wrist shocking her before he gave her a hard glare.

"Who are you, I am not stupid I know you know I have the app too. Don't test me." He snarled, the girl looked at her arm, pale faced and panicked, to scared to move.

 _Is she… scared?_ The thought made Lucas feel bad, and he released her wrist, she yanked it back and held it in her hand, her breath coming in shallow gasps.

"I-I cant explain now, but come to a place called Café Leblanc at 9:00, we can explain anything to you then, we're curious about you too." She said.

Lucas briefly remembered walking by a café on the way to the house yesterday.

"Okay, fine I'll come… *Sigh* I'm Lucas, what's yours?" He asked her, putting a false lightness into his tone.

Even so she hesitated for a second, her hand still holding her wrist. "Futaba, Futaba Sakura." She said and sprinted off.

As she was running something clicked in Lucas' head. "Wait! What do you mean we're?!" He called out making her stop, she turned to him and smiled, then kept running.

"H-hey! *sigh* what the hell man… why me?..." Lucas said.

 _So I'm not the only one with this app… I should probably check out this Leblanc place, but I have to find out on my own what it is, cant ask uncle. This is such a pain…_ Lucas thought.

"Uh Lucas, were you talking to someone? And why aren't you in the car?" A familiar voice said, Christopher.

"I was talking to myself, and the car was locked so…" Lucas trailed off, letting the obvious hang in the air.

Christopher had the grace to look sheepish at least. "Riiiight, my bad." He said, moving to the drivers seat to unlock it.

 _He seems much kinder than earlier, more gentle, so what the hell was earlier about, does he have split personality? Or maybe he's bipolar or feeling guilty for smacking me for no reason. Well, doesn't matter now I guess._ Lucas was thinking.

"Oh by the way, we have to stop at the store in Yongen to pick up stuff for dinner, I figure this would be a good time for you to learn some Japanese, so I want you to go in yourself with your translative dictionary and grab the stuff." Christopher explained.

Lucas groaned. "What if I don't want to?" He asked.

Christopher's grip on the steering wheel tightened, and he grit his teeth in rage. "You will do as I ask, you are useless to me right now until you learn." He seethed.

Those words sent a spike of pain and anger through Lucas' chest and he glared right back at Christopher. "What the hell is your issue! If I'm so fucking useless then why did you take me in huh? I have no other family yes but you weren't required to take me in, so if I'm so _fucking_ useless why didn't you leave me in Ohio!" Lucas raged, voice raising to a yell.

Christopher was quiet for a few minutes, when he spoke again his voice was much calmer. "Your mother asked me to before she died."

All the breath seemed to fly from Lucas' body. _M-my mother? She asked him too? Did she know about his issues?_

Christopher continued speaking, feeling encouraged to by the silence. "She… called me two weeks before the cancer took her… and begged me to take you in, I didn't know much about you so I was apprehensive at first… But she's… she was my sister, I've never had children so I don't know how to handle them, though… your not a child at all, you're a teenager."

"Just because you don't know how to handle people doesn't mean abuse is the answer." Lucas whispered to himself, opting to not truly respond to his uncle's words.

"I'll go get the stuff… but just leave me alone for the rest of the night afterwards please." Lucas begged.

Christopher may not truly care for the kid, but even he felt a bit of pity at the way he sounded with his request, he decided to take pity on him for once.

"Okay, we're almost home, so I'll give you a list." Christopher said pulling into the parking garage, not looking forward to the five-minute walk to get home.

Lucas' nodded.

 **A short while later.**

"*Sigh* I totally cant read any of this… why couldn't mom teach me how to read it instead of speak it?" Lucas mumbled, he figured out the hot-pot and the fired chicken quickly but was having trouble with… literally everything else.

"Excuse me, you look confused, can I help?" A feminine voice asked, Lucas was tempted to ignore her, but he was desperate to get the stuff done at this point, he turned towards the voice.

He was stunned to see a slightly older-pretty girl with brown eyes and black hair kept up in a pony tail, the thing that caught Lucas' eye though was the black leg brace around her leg, contrasting with her brown skirt and white v-neck.

 _Her sense of style is a bit off, and what's up with that leg brace? Eh, not my business._ Lucas thought.

"Yes, thank you, I can speak and understand Japanese but cant actually read it well." Lucas explained to the girl, to which she smiled.

"That's still impressive for a foreigner, with a little practice you could learn fully." The girl said then did a slight bow. "I'm Shiho, Shiho suzui."

"Shiho huh? I'm Lucas." He said, noticing she didn't say 'for an American', that warmed Lucas' heart a little.

Shiho suddenly took the list from his hand, "Let's see… you need udon, white rice and takoyaki? Strange combination Lucas-chan." She said with a teasing look to Lucas.

He didn't understand why his ears were suddenly burning. "I-it's my uncles list, not mine Suzui-san." He explained, she giggled.

"It's fine, I wont judge." She said grabbing item's Lucas assumed was the… whatever was on the list.

She handed them to Lucas. "Here you go, do you know how to read money?" Shiho asked, coming from anyone else that might have sounded rude but to Lucas it sounded earnest, not at all condescending.

"I think I can handle it, Thank you Suzui-san." Lucas said honestly, Shiho frowned as if in thought for a moment, then took out her phone making Lucas raise an eyebrow.

"Give me your contact info, I'd like us to be friends if that's okay." Shiho said, sudden nervousness present in her voice, Lucas smiled and pulled out his phone and swapped them.

Lucas had to hold back a gasp of shock, he stared at Shiho's phone as if it were poison. _She has it too! The app! Is this chick a persona user?_ Lucas thought, mind racing.

He quickly added his number and chat ID just as she finished, he practically snatched his phone back, noticing she also looked slightly unnerved, which he chose to ignore.

"T-thank you Lucas-chan, I must be going." She said as she practically sprinted out of the store.

Lucas went to the guy behind the register who was playing on his phone absentmindedly and paid for the stuff before leaving, hurrying out of the store to go home. Momentarily shocked by how dark it had gotten.

 _I was in there that long? I really need to fix my internal clock._

"No! Let me go someone help!" A familiar voice begged, Lucas froze up. _Shiho?_

He jogged around the corner and saw two thugs dressed in black with shit eating grins on their faces, one was holding onto the girl who called for help.

Lucas' heart jumpstarted when he got a look at her face, _holy shit it is Shiho!_ She looked absolutely full blown terrified, almost unnaturally so.

"Relax girl, just come with us, a pretty thing like you walking alone? Your asking for it at this point, come on. I promise we'll make you feel good." The thug not holding her said suggestively, making her scream and thrash harder.

Lucas started shaking, and his heartbeat picked up. _I want to help… but there's two of them and I cant remember the last time I've fought someone. I… should just ignore this._

" **Your just going to walk away? I thought a king's job was to protect their subjects, not leave them. Something unspeakable awaits her if you do nothing."** A voice said suddenly inside Lucas' head, making him groan.

"You again. Why are you here now?" Lucas groaned in pain. "Damnit I'm not strong enough to help her."

" **On the outside you show weakness, but I can feel the desire to protect inside you, discard your fears and fight! Prove to me that you deserve my strength wild card! Don't resist my power!"** The voice said, with such strength it brought Lucas to his knees.

"N-no, your… your right! I cant sit by and do nothing, ha ha… my mother would be ashamed of me. But I don't accept you, you damn voice, get out of my head." Lucas' commanded.

" **Hahahah! Now you act like a king! Fine, I will leave. But go, show your strength of rebellion to me once more!"** The voice said and disappeared from his mind.

Lucas felt strange, he felt confident, he felt strong, these feelings were going on inside him as he walked behind the two thugs.

"What the hell do you think your doing to her?" He said, causing all three of them to stop, Shiho's eyes widened as the two thugs turned towards Lucas with menacing looks.

"Excuse me? Who the fuck are you kid?" The one holding Shiho demanded while the other cracked his knuckles.

"Do you have any idea who we are?" The second thug said menacingly.

Lucas scoffed. "I don't care who you are, let go of her now." Lucas said to the thug holding her, making his eyes widen.

"What if I don't huh kid? What if I just do this?" He responded by grabbing Shiho's butt and squeezing making her cry out, Lucas gritted his teeth in anger, making both thugs chuckle.

"You pieces of shit, I warned you." Lucas said and punched the thug 2 in the face, and tackled the one holding Shiho into the ground, ending up on top as he quickly punched the second thug in the face.

"Shiho, run! Call the cops!" Lucas said as he was yanked off thug 1 by thug 2 and kicked in the stomach, coughing and gasping for air.

Shiho didn't waste time, and sprinted off, Lucas not bothering to look back to see where she was running to, suddenly both thugs looked nervous.

"Fuck! We cant let her get away and call the cops! After her!" Thug 1 yelled at thug 2.

Lucas shot up and stood in there way. "Going somewhere assholes?" He said with an evil smirk, both thugs growling.

"You damn American, you should know your place, we were going to let you live, but now you've gone too far." Thug 2 said, pulling out a Ka-bar knife, Thug 1 smirking and pulling out a butterfly knife.

Now Lucas was a bit Nervous, and it showed, both thugs grinned. _Are you kidding me? Knives? These aren't ordinary thugs that's for sure, what the hell did I get myself into._ Lucas thought.

Thug 2 suddenly rushed at Lucas, and swiped at him, it was all Lucas could do to dodge out of the way in time, as Thug 1 came up after trying to stab the knife into Lucas' throat, which he got out of the way in time.

Suddenly pain exploded through Lucas' left hand, traveling all the way up his arm, Lucas screamed in agony and kicked out as hard as he could surprising himself as Thug 2 flew back into the road, grunting as his body hit the pavement, knocking him out by a miracle.

Lucas' looked at his left hand and nearly fainted when he saw the Ka-bar knife stuck in his hand, suddenly he felt dizzy, and he knew it was from pain, thug 1 smirked.

"Your not looking too good there American trash, looks like your going to pass out soon and when you do, we'll kill you, and when we kill you, we'll hunt your girlfriend down and kill her." He taunted.

Lucas dropped to his knees, and Thug 1 twirled the knife in his hand. "Prepare to die you piece of trash!"

 _No… not yet!_ Lucas thought, and forced his body to move, he flung himself to the side, the butterfly knife grazing his shirt ripping a bit of it off, but not harming him.

"Hmm, so you could still move huh? No matter." Your gonna die today bitch. Thug 1 said.

Lucas could only think of one way to get out of this right now. Sirens could be heard off in the distance, but he knew they wouldn't make it in time. Lucas forced himself to his feet, a rebellious glare on his face, as he gripped the knife stuck in his hand with his good one, glaring all the while at Thug 1 who looked on in shock.

"Your seriously not thinking of doing that? Are you crazy?!" He demanded.

Lucas started laughing, a slow quiet chuckle that turned into a full blown laugh. "H-How did you know!?" He said, a smirk on his face as he ripped the knife out of his hand, yelling in agony.

Thug 1 now looked scared, and with more speed than Lucas' realized he lunged at him gripping the knife with both hands. Thrusting it up at his chest.

Suddenly he was grabbed by a shadowy figure and pulled back, the strength in the person that grabbed Lucas strong enough to wrench the knife out of his hand, it skidding across the pavement, Lucas fought to get free from the figure but a familiar voice made him pause.

"Calm down dude! You defeated the bosses, stop trying to commit friendly fire." The orange haired girl said. Futaba, her name was.

"Y-you? Why the hell are you here?" Lucas demanded, Futaba raised her hands in surrender.

"Chill out, it's okay we're your friends." Futaba said, then looked at the figure holding him. "Akira, let him go."

"Wait… Akira?" Lucas said and whipped around to look at the person who grabbed him.

"It's you… You're the one who slammed into me yesterday." Lucas said.

"It's nice to see you again Lucas, I thought you couldn't speak Japanese." Akira said with a raised eyebrow.

"O-oh that's because…. Never mind that. Why are you with Futaba?" Lucas asked.

"Why wouldn't I be? We're friends and she's a persona user, like you and me." Akira said.

Lucas kind of swayed on the spot when Akira said he was a persona user. "wha… what? You're a persona user too?" he asked in disbelief.

Akira showed Lucas his phone, the metaverse app on his phone staring at him. "Everyone who has this app has the potential to be a persona user or has a persona." Akira explained.

"Then… then why did Shiho have an app?" Lucas asked. That question caught Akira off guard, while Futaba looked merely confused.

"Shiho has the metaverse app? Ann is not gonna be happy about this." Akira mumbled to himself.

"Wait who is Ann? Another persona user?" Lucas asked but was ignored, Akira continuing to mumble to himself. Suddenly the sirens blared again and Lucas looked around, realizing Thug 1 was gone and Thug 2 was still unconscious, Akira looked up in shock.

"Come on, we have to run from them, we cant let them spot you." Akira said, running in the way Shiho ran, Futaba close behind.

"W-wait! I have to get home! Aghhh my uncle is not gonna be happy about this." Lucas mourned and ran after the two, cradling his injured hand (which had gone numb much to Lucas' fear).

 **IN THE VELVET ROOM**

"Hmm it seems the key has met the other wild card. "Things are progressing a bit quicker than what you expected master." A woman said, this woman had short white hair and yellow eyes, wearing a blue dress that somewhat resembles a stewardess outfit with five black-lined circles outside small yellow circles, blue gloves, a blue attendant-like hat, black leggings and blue, knee-length boots, not to mention she was very beautiful.

"It seems so young Elizabeth, however this is not a bad thing, it just proves even further that he is the key, being able to fight half shadows without a persona proves his incredible power." Igor said.

"Half shadows? I'm afraid I don't understand Master." Elizabeth questioned.

"I do not fully comprehend myself, but I believe that they have evolved somewhat, some shadow's gaining the strength to take human forms, at the cost of some of their power." Igor explained.

"How can this be possible master?"

"I think… the seal is getting weaker, and that means Nyx is growing stronger than the seal."

"B-but the seal is!... No, no that cant be, not him." Elizabeth, now feeling fearful said.

"Forgive me Elizabeth, I had forgotten you loved the seal." Igor said, genuine in his apology.

"The seal… has a name master." Elizabeth said, turning away from Igor.

"Ah yes, how could I forget the name of the best guest I've ever had?"

"Makoto Yuki."

 **A/N: Not counting this authors note this chapter has exactly 5000 words lol. And thank you to the reviewer who said what they said on this story, you brought the biggest smile to my face ever.**


	4. Chapter 4

"What the heck? You actually brought the groceries with you?" Futaba asked in disbelief, staring at Lucas like he was an alien.

"Of course I did, I paid for them after all, that's a waste of money and my uncles might not kill me if I bring back something." Lucas said defensively, arms crossed over his chest wincing at his bandaged left hand.

It had been only thirty agonizing minutes since Akira, Futaba and Lucas had ran from the cops, Lucas nearly passing out from pain at one point, but thankfully the owner of Leblanc Sojiro Sakura bandaged him up, not without noting he was gonna have a nasty scar before he headed off to his own home.

Akira came down the stairs with his phone in his hand. "Alright guys, the other's will be here soon, Shiho, you okay too?" He asked in concern to the downtrodden, almost traumatized girl sitting at the bar.

"Y-yes, thank you Kurusu-kun, they didn't hurt me to badly." She responded quietly, sending a brief glance at Lucas who admittedly forgot about her existence due to all the drama.

"So… what happened out there? How'd they catch you?" Lucas asked her

"They… They saw me walking alone, and they cornered me asking me all sorts of questions, I was so scared… I thought it was going to happen again to me, but you saved me Lucas-chan."

"Again?" Lucas emphasized, Shiho tensed up as well as Akira a little bit. "No, no never mind forget about it." He remedied.

Suddenly the door to Leblanc slammed open instinctively making Lucas jump over the side of the booth, a female voice suddenly cried out.

"Shiho! Oh my god are you okay?" A seriously hot girl said, launching herself into Shiho who suddenly went from downtrodden to a bit sheepish.

"I-I'm fine Ann, I wouldn't have been, but I was saved by Lucas-Chan here, he beat up the thugs but got hurt himself." She explained gesturing to Lucas who was still behind the booth.

Lucas' ears started burning again and he cleared his throat walking out from behind the booth. "Uh… dropped something." He said, feigning nonchalant.

Akira grinned a little bit and shook his head, as did Futaba, Shiho and Ann didn't notice it thankfully, Ann stepped forward and took Lucas' hand in a firm grip.

"I'm Ann, Ann Takamaki, thank you for saving my best friend here, she always get's herself in trouble it seems." She said, flashing a dazzling smile at Lucas (which had no effect) much to Akira's impressed observation.

"Uh, thanks I guess." Lucas said, pulling his hand out as gently as possible.

The door to Leblanc opened again however Lucas didn't run this time and watched as four more people walked inside.

"Yo' Akira, got here as fast as we could, so, this the guy? My name's Ryuji." A dyed blonde boy said.

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance, I'm Yusuke Kitagawa and I look forward to getting to know you better." A blue haired pretty boy said with an earnest smile.

"Hello! My names Makoto Niijima, I'm a prosecutor for the police, as well as Akira's girlfriend." A pretty brown-haired girl said, all smiles and proper speech.

"Oh my, how cute you are! Where are my manners, I'm Haru Okumura, a pleasure." The pink haired big fore headed girl said.

Lucas decided to be polite, he was totally outnumbered after all, he even managed a slight bow. "I'm Lucas, it's nice to meet all of you." He then turned to Akira. "Are they Persona users like me and Shiho?"

That set of a bomb in the room. "What!? Shiho's a persona user? Impossible!" Ann declared looking at her best friend, who looked away from her in turn.

"For real?! She wasn't one two years ago so why now?" Ryuji questioned in disbelief.

The other's remained relatively silent, looking rather confused, Lucas assumed they didn't really now her that well if at all, Shiho looked at a complete loss so Lucas spoke to her.

"That red eye app on your phone Shiho-san, I have it too, and I assume everyone else in here does to, it's apparently a sign that you can use something called a persona, though I don't know what it is myself really, they can explain I hope." Lucas said with a pointed look at everyone.

Ann still looked upset. "I cant believe Shiho is a persona user… my best friend." She said to no one in particular, Akira spoke up next.

"Lucas and Shiho haven't awakened to them yet I assume since the looks on their faces convey confusion, you two have a seat please, we're gonna explain it all too you." Akira said.

Lucas looked at the time and squeaked a little bit. "It's 11:30?! I was supposed to be back by 10:15… I need to get home." Lucas said, getting up and moving to the door.

A cat suddenly meowed loudly, making Lucas pause. "I think your cat's hungry." He said, making a move to open the door.

"Y-you can't leave yet! We have to- "Akira started.

"I don't care!" Lucas shouted giving pause to everyone, he took a few calming breaths, his heart beating in his chest. "I don't care about this persona crap, I don't care about learning it, I don't care about being a user. I just care about going home. This damn voice in my head can shut the hell up too!"

Akira looked at Lucas with sympathy. "I know how you feel, but trust me, you won't be able to live a normal life if you just avoid the game, you have to listen to what we need to tell you, that voice is your Persona, the incarnation of your _will_. The true you, not the façade you hide behind." He said.

No one dared speak. It was a stare down of wild card versus wild card, (granted no one knew there were two in the room at this very moment). Lucas put his head in his hands and started laughing again.

"Game? You call it a game you can't avoid? Bullshit, I can avoid it all I fucking want because unlike all of _you_ I'm not a slave to the 'game'. Oh, and as for your normal life crap? I can't live a normal life! My mother and father are dead." Lucas yanked open the door to Leblanc and stomped out, running off into the night.

Ryuji sighed as the door closed. "That could have gone better." He stated bluntly.

"Ryuji!" Ann reprimanded, a stern glare directed at him.

"I'm just saying." He mumbled, looking down at the ground.

"While what he said admittedly was a bit uncalled for, I'll be blunt… he wasn't necessarily wrong in his words, vulgar as they were." Yusuke said solemnly.

Makoto looked up with widened eyes. "Are you serious Yusuke?" She asked shocked, before Yusuke could respond Futaba spoke.

"Lucas…. really wasn't totally wrong, we were originally given our persona's and fought to change others hearts because we felt like we had too, and now since we got them back were just blindly following whatever's happening without asking questions… Just like slaves."

"I wouldn't call us slaves though, we made the choice to fight to change the hearts of shitty adults, gotta say though. I wasn't expecting the guy to have such a negative reaction towards the power to make a change." Ryuji countered.

"Indeed, it was rather odd." Yusuke agreed.

"We'll just have to change his mind, right? He seems like a good kid at heart, I mean he saved Shiho after all, speaking of that we should probably explain what the heck is going on, she's clearly freaking out right now." Ann said, gesturing to her best friend.

The sudden attention that was given to Shiho made her feel slightly unnerved, but the questions she had out weighed the nerves that threatened to overcome her.

"I want you all to explain what this metaverse and Persona stuff is please. I feel so confused. I… I got Lucas-Chan's contact info so I can tell him what you told me." Shiho proposed.

"Of course, we'll gladly inform you, now listen up cause this may take a while." Akira said.

 **LINE BREAK Lucas**

"Where the fuck have you been Lucas! It's been over an hour since I sent you out, and what the hell happened to your hand!?" Christopher said in anger, his voice rising a couple octaves.

Lucas actually backed up a little and raised his hands in surrender. "I can explain uncle, just give me the chance please." He begged, looking him in the eyes.

Christopher stared at him a moment longer, shoulder's relaxing slightly as he nodded once, Lucas let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, and sat down to explain the entire process (leaving out the bit about the personas and metaverse stuff).

"So you saved that girl, got hurt and ran from the cops in a panic to Leblanc and Sakura-san patched you up, and you lost track of time talking to Akira and his friends…. Christ kid what am I going to do with you?" Christopher said shaking his head a small smile on his face, suddenly a suspicious look came to his face.

"How did you talk to Akira and his friends if you don't know Japanese?" Christopher asked, looking like the prosecutor he was.

Luckily Lucas had an excuse for that all ready, he pulled the Japanese translative dictionary out of his back pocket. "This helped me, it was a short conversation if I knew Japanese, but since I didn't it took a while…" he explained, Christopher's shoulders relaxed more, and he pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.

"So… are you still angry?" Lucas asked tentatively, not wanting to set him off, his uncle shook his head.

"No, not really, I think you're an idiot for putting yourself at risk like that, but I admire the bravery you had to protect that girl…. I'll let this slide just this once, but if it happens again your going to be in a lot of trouble understood?"

"Yes sir."

"Good, now go and head on up to bed, I'll make your dinner your lunch tomorrow, you have your first day of school you know." Christopher said, taking the ingredients and striding towards the kitchen.

Lucas struggled up the stairs to his room, the events of the past couple of hours finally taking its toll on him, he didn't bother changing out of his clothes, the second his head touched his pillow he clocked out.

 **INSIDE THE VELVET ROOM**

"Here again… I thought you would leave me alone long nose." Lucas said, sitting on the sand staring at the old man, hoping to annoy the smile off his face.

It didn't work, Igor just chuckled. "I wouldn't have called you back so quickly, however I had to commend you." He said.

"Commend me for what exactly?"

"You have found one of the wild cards before you much faster than I anticipated, this is good, the quicker the better. However, I must mention the fact that you reject your own destiny, part of my purpose is to guide the wild card and rejecting your own power will do you more harm than good."

"The other wild card?! Who is it?!"

"Just like you, the black-haired boy Akira Kurusu has the wild card ability, you both contain incredible power inside you."

"I don't even want this power, I don't want to be a wild card, I don't want to be some key. I just want to live a normal life… a normal as it can be, I'm not asking for too much."

Igor was silent for a few moments thinking of another angle to convince the surprisingly stubborn wild card. "Surely, you have noticed something… strange about your uncle yes? His mood swings, the way he acts as if his mind is unsteady." He questioned, stunning Lucas into silence for a few moments.

When he spoke his voice was strained. "That's irrelevant to the current topic yes? I don't see the point in branching off here."

"Ahh but it is very relevant, let me tell you how to use the app." Igor explained about the app and how to use it, slightly piquing Lucas' interest.

"So enter their name and some key words and if they have a palace it will show up?" Lucas repeated back to Igor.

"Precisely, when you wake up enter your uncles name into the nav and see the truth wild card." Igor responded, slightly proud.

"The truth being my uncles distorted desires?"

"Precisely."

"You forget even if I do this I have no persona."

"Yet."

"Damnit I don't want this power!"

"Yet, you have it, and it's very different than that of other wild cards."

"How so?"

"Only time, will tell."

"What if I cant awaken to my persona?"

"You will, when you find your will of rebellion again."

A sandstorm started picking up again, making both Lucas and Igor look around. "It seems I'm being forced out again… how peculiar, I leave you with these parting words wild card. Do not reject the game, if you win the game, you will gain that normal life that you so desire." Igor said before shimmering into nothingness again.

Once again Lucas suddenly felt very tired, and was asleep before his head hit the sand.

 **The next morning**

Lucas woke up in a cold sweat the details from his dream affecting him more than he desired, he looked to his phone on his bedside table, hating how his curiosity ruled him at this very moment as he picked up the phone.

He tapped on the app and like Igor said, the app opened three different bars for three different requirements.

 _Why am I doing this?_ Lucas thought, unable to ascertain the reason why for himself, he knew it wasn't some naïve sense of justice, no, he didn't care about that. He chalked it up to the last thing Igor said.

" _If you win the game, you will gain that normal life you so desire."_ Igor's voice echoed in his mind like a taunt. Or maybe a declaration.

"Christopher…. Takumi." Lucas spoke into the phone, not expecting much.

"New candidate found!" A female robotic voice spoke out over his phone, something shifted in the air, and Lucas started shaking.

"N-no way… my uncle has distorted desires?" Lucas wondered aloud in disbelief.

"Lucas, you up?" Christopher suddenly appeared at the doorway to his room startling Lucas.

"Y-yes I'm up." Lucas said, Christopher cocked his head a little and pursed his lips, as if wanting to say something. Seemingly deciding against it he turned away from his nephew.

"Okay, good, hurry up and get dressed or you wont be able to eat breakfast, I made you lunch too." Christopher said, walking down the stairs again.

Taking a moment to gather his thought's Lucas shook himself awake, and did his morning routine, (except the hair he left that alone) and went downstairs to find a steaming bowl of ramen and his uncle watching the morning news.

"The heart thief claimed yet another victim last night, a female individual around twenty years of age, her name was Aiko Suzuki, an aspiring female boxer." The women reporter said.

"The police after this murder have decided to make the suspect a most wanted in Japan criminal, as he managed to kill someone with actual fighting ability it is unknown what his own is. Did he get the jump on her? Or did they brawl in the night and he come out victorious. On a side note, last night in Yongen-jaya two small time criminals were found unconscious and arrested, on their persons were multiple drugs of different types, and signs of a struggle were evident, it is safe to assume someone was possibly attacked, however had managed to get away safely, no one has stepped forward so far." The male reporter said.

Christopher grumbled something and looked away, going back to his pile of dishes. Lucas found himself examining him for something, _anything_ that might show a hint of his 'distorted desires'.

Lucas almost gave up, but then he caught it, under Christopher's left shirt sleeve was a scratch, just big enough to look suspicious, but it wasn't enough, deciding to file that information away for later Lucas finished his ramen and put his bowl in the sink.

"Thanks for the food uncle." He said, Christopher made a grunting noise and waved him away, shrugging his shoulder's Lucas left the house, starting the short walk to the train station.

"Hey Lucas!" A familiar voice called him. Lucas sighed in foreboding and turned around, putting on a blank face as Futaba Sakura bounded up to him.

"You going to school? We should walk together!" She said smiling, her positive energy making Lucas feel a bit sick, he sighed and kept walking, trying to ignore the stares Futaba's eyes were giving him.

Finally, he got tired of it. "Why are you bugging me?" He asked her, the sudden question making her pause.

"Because I want to?" She offered meekly, a unconvincing smile on her face. Lucas scoffed and shook his head.

"Do you think me an idiot? I know your only bugging me because of this metaverse crap, and you still think I'm a persona user." He said, stepping onto the train Futaba close behind.

"Your smarter than I thought! That should make things easier. Look, none of us are gonna stop bugging you until you accept what you are, there's a reason the metaverse came back, and there's a reason this Shiho girl and you have the app." She explained.

"I don't want to accept what I am because I don't want to have this power. First that long nosed old man and now you guys… don't you get it? Whatever, it is you think I'm destined to be a part of I don't want to be a part of it. It's pointless, tedious and annoying." Lucas countered, a headache forming in his brain he desperately tried to rub away.

"Long nosed old man? You mean Igor?" Futaba asked, Lucas nearly choked on the air just now.

"Y-you know Igor?" Lucas asked in disbelief.

"We all do, Akira the most since he was, or is the wild card user."

"So he really does also have the wild card then…" Lucas mumbled, however Futaba caught it.

"'Also'? what do you mean 'also'? Does that mean that you…" She trailed off, Lucas found himself unable to make eye contact with her.

"Igor… said I'm also a wild card, but I'm different than the others… I nor he know what I am." He said, the words bitter on his tongue.

Futaba looked ready to explode from excitement. She whipped her phone out of her pocket, fingers flying across the screen before she suddenly put the phone back in her pocket.

"There. It's done." She said simply. Lucas staring at her still in disbelief.

It was a moment before he could speak again. "What the heck did you do?" He asked.

"Oh I just texted everybody that you're a wild card, and that you've met Igor."

"WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!" Lucas yelled, unable to control his volume. He was silently thankful that him and Futaba were the only ones in the train car.

Futaba visibly flinched back. "I-I'm sorry I-I just wanted to-" she stammered, looking near tears, Lucas felt a wave of guilt wash over him, and he almost reached out to Futaba but held back.

"I'm sorry Futaba… I shouldn't have yelled… I just… really want nothing to do with this." He said, turning away from her and sitting down at the far side of the train car, Futaba at the other end.

It was silent the rest of the ride.

 **Leblanc**

Meanwhile at Leblanc, The rest of the group was letting the information Futaba sent them sink in.

"So… he's a wild card huh? Kinda fit's his personality perfectly." Ryuji said, scratching his nose.

"Your telling me, I wasn't expecting that at all, but what I'm wondering about is this difference Akira and Lucas have." Ann said, looking over to a silent Akira, Morgana on the table beside him.

"Perhaps the Metaverse will yield the answers we seek." Yusuke suggested.

"No… No that wont work I think. Something is different, and we have to figure out what exactly." Makoto countered.

"Maybe… he's able to wield stronger Persona's? Or maybe he's a new arcana?" Morgana suggested.

"That would put a certain cap on his power would it not? After all the point of the wild card is to be virtually infinite in terms of power." Haru said.

Akira stood up. A solemn look on his face. Everyone felt what he was about to say next, it was on their thoughts. But it was the last thing they wanted to be true.

"Maybe…. Like Akechi was…. He's the bad version of the wild card? Maybe like Akechi…. He's supposed to try and kill me?" Akira said.

The entire room fell into silence, Sojiro (who had been brought up to speed on everything) took a drag of his cigarette and sighed. "Now hold on just a minute Akira, don't you think that's jumping the gun just a little bit?" He asked the boy he considered his son.

"I- I agree, I don't think Lucas-chan is capable of that, sure he's angry and confused and doesn't want anything to do with it. But remember how he said his mother and father are dead? Why would he want to do something to dishonor them?" Shiho said, defending her new friend. (She had also become part of the official group, fully willing to help despite not yet having her own persona either).

"Shiho's right, we should do more investigating before jumping to conclusions." Ann said, supporting her best friend. Shiho looked at Ann gratefully.

"If we can find some reason to make him want to fight maybe he'll become part of our team. It's not a bad idea but the question is how we go about doing it." Makoto said.

"Maybe I could offer to draw Shiho naked if he agrees to fight with us." Yusuke suggested.

"WHAT?!" Everybody said, Shiho blushing furiously looking away.

"Hell no! That's not happening!" Ann said.

"It would make for an interesting scene though." Haru said amused.

"I would think it would work, there's attraction between you two. I am an artist which requires one to be refined in analytics. If he sees something he desires in it's purest form he may decide to fight for it yes?" Yusuke said, genuinely confused.

"Attraction?" Ryuji echoed with widened eyes. "What already?!" He said in disbelief eyes whipping over to Shiho.

"That doesn't matter right now! Although me and her will talk about this later." Ann said, a reassuring smile to her best friend.

"Nevertheless, we need to find some way of convincing him, so how do we go about doing that?" Morgana asked.

"We need to find something that will motivate him, but he's already reluctant to even speak to us, Futaba's probably grinding him for info right now." Ann said.

It was Makoto who came up with the idea. "We could take him into a palace? It would be good to find someone who has one and maybe if he see's how bad these people can be, it may break through to him and give him a reason to fight. His mother and father are dead so… maybe we take on someone who kills. Like the heart thief serial killer that my department has been struggling to catch."

"That's a great idea, nice thinking Makoto." Akira praised making Makoto blush a bit. "The only problem is we know nothing about him, actually even if they are a male or not, the police have only classified him as male because well… he's a serial killer and he steals the hearts of his victims in a very literal sense. So maybe he's implying he wants a heart?"

"Ohh not bad, or maybe he likes to perform satanic rituals with the hearts he cuts out, like he eats em' or something hoping to absorb their vitality." Ryuji suggested.

Ann smacked him upside the head. "You have been watching way to many movies lately you idiot." She said, annoyance, but unmistakable affection In her voice.

"Some killer's kill for the thrill, some do it to feel, some do it just because they're messed up in the head." Haru said.

"I would think all killers are messed up in the head." Yusuke countered.

"I think while Ryuji's theory is a bit far-fetched, we could look into something similar to that to find any reference point to any keywords, we can look into the big elephant which is the name later." Shiho suggested.

Suddenly the familiar bell hanging on Leblanc's door chimed, abruptly stopping the flow of conversation. In walked a white-blond haired man in his early to late thirties, who happened to look a lot like Lucas.

Akira recognized him immediately. "Ahh! Christopher-san, what brings you here?" He asked the man who looked vaguely surprised before a pleasant smile rose over his face.

"Oh nothing, I just decided to stop by personally to thank you for saving my idiot nephew, that… rebellious attitude and naïve sense of justice nearly got him killed, and if it wasn't for you and Sakura-sans daughter saving him he may have died." He explained, an edge to his voice, hidden so well Akira almost missed it, Shiho instinctually tensed up.

"By the way you tensed up, I assume you're the girl he saved yes? My your very pretty, I'm Christopher Takumi, Lucas' uncle." He said to Shiho, a slight bow given to her.

"Was I that obvious?" Shiho asked hesitantly.

"No not at all. I am a lawyer, and a very good one. I can tell when people are lying, that's why I have a 100% success rate on all cases I've taken. Could have been a detective but that's what miss Makoto is here for." He glanced at Makoto who gave a wolfish smile back at him.

"I cant say it's been a pleasure Takumi-san. What with you convicting Kaito Suzuka the way you did." She said, venom in her voice.

Christopher's face instantly took a dark look to it but passed so quickly Akira wondered if he imagined it. "I did no 'convicting' of any kind, the judge and jury decided the electric chair. All I did was provide a sound argument." He retorted.

He continued speaking. "If he hadn't had murdered his own mother and brother, then he would be living now. But he wont be. Because he's dead. Trash like that deserves to die." Christopher countered, all friendly pretenses gone as he stormed out, slamming the door behind him.

"That got dark pretty quickly, I heard about that case, Kaito Suzuka murdered his mother and brother, and while the police were apprehending him he started screaming about… what was it?" Haru thought.

"A serial killer threatening him to." Makoto finished for her, silence premating throughout the room.

"But that one was caught." Ryuji said.

"So they say, but now with this heart thief stuff… can we be sure?" Akira countered.

"On a side note… I cant believe Lucas lives with someone like that, he seems nice but when you cross him or challenge him he gets like that, and if Lucas' personality is anything to go by… we may need to watch out for him from afar." Yusuke said.

"Yea, but we'd all look suspicious doing it. So how are we going to?" Morgana asked.

"Shiho, can you do it?" Akira suddenly asked the quiet girl sitting at the bar.

"M-me!?" She asked, shocked.

"Yea why her?! She's new to this!" Ann demanded.

"New as she may be, she's the only one Lucas may tolerate, he did save her after all. We wont force her, if she doesn't want to we'll find another way." Akira said.

All was silent waiting in anticipation for Shiho's answer, finally she gave a small resolute nod. "Okay, I'll do it." She agreed, the whole room sighing in relief.

"Well then, let's get to planning." Akira said, feeling nostalgic as everyone referred to him and Makoto.

He enjoyed the feeling a lot.

 **A/N: Alrighty, hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Also, if you all don't like how Lucas' reacts to everything I'm sorry, but I want to make his character somewhat realistic, what I mean by that is I don't want him to suddenly be okay with everything if that makes sense. I want him to react like a normal person who's reality is shattering around him.**


	5. Chapter 5

Lucas desperately tried to ignore the stares and whispers he was getting as he stood in front of the class, the teacher droning on with introductions that Lucas wanted no part of.

" _Hey, that's an American right? Does he know any Japanese?"_

" _He's super cute. What a hottie!"_

" _Geeze you think every guy is cute."_

"Alright quiet down while I'm talking! This boy is Lucas, he's a new transfer student from a place in America called Ohio, I want you all to get along okay?" The teacher said, a youthful woman of medium height with long dark brown unkempt hair, who had a bad case of sleepy face.

"Oh, go ahead and introduce yourself, I'll translate to them for you." She said.

"No need." Lucas spoke, deciding to use Japanese, deciding this because he knew Futaba would blow his cover if he tried to pretend he didn't know how to speak it. The only solace being her not being in his class.

"Hello, my name is Lucas, I'm going to be joining your class today, I can speak Japanese and understand it just fine, however I struggle with reading at, I hope you all can teach me just as much as this teacher, right ms…" Lucas trailed off, a sheepish smile on his face.

"Oh! Kawakami, Sadayo Kawakami." Kawakami gave her name.

The class oohed and ahhed at Lucas' speaking ability. Kawakami quickly quieted them down. "Let's see… your seat can be over by the window over there." Kawakami pointed to a seat in the back, Lucas walked over and sat down.

"I hope you all can share your textbooks with him today, anyway, today we are going to be having a self-study period, make sure to use this opportunity to catch up on anything you may be missing, I have some things to take care of in the student faculty room." Kawakami said and walked out.

Lucas made himself at home in his new desk, quickly spacing out and staring out of the window at the birds flying in the sky, he felt a little awkward still but tried to pin the feelings and make them fade.

He was genuinely surprised when a bunch of students came over to him with surprisingly welcoming smiles no doubt sporting questions Lucas didn't really want to answer.

"Uh… Hi?" Lucas said sheepishly his socially awkward side taking over, he really hated talking to new people in general and so many at once was giving him a bit of sensory overload.

That still broke the floodgates though, suddenly he was being bombarded by questions as he struggled to answer them all.

"How is it in America? I heard there's a lot of fast food restaurants there, is there Big Bang Burger?" One student asked.

"Y-yes there is, it's actually the most successful here though, there's only one all of where I come from though." He answered.

"Kawakami-sensei said you were from Ohio, what's that like?" a female student asked, holding out a phone as if it were a recording device.

"It's… nice? I lived in the capital Columbus, there's a lot of traffic, not nearly as much as Japan though… what are you doing?" He asked the student.

"Oh where are my manners, I'm Hira Kizugaya I'm part of the newspaper club and I've decided to do a report on foreigners." Kizugaya said.

"Good luck with that." Lucas said, giving a small nod to her.

"Do you have a girlfriend back home?" Another female student asked, a little to close to Lucas' personal space.

"What?!" Lucas squeaked ears turning red shaking his head vehemently. "N-no I don't, never had either."

"What? How? Your so attractive though!" Another female student said, making Lucas' face burn brightly.

"Th-thanks. Uh, I don't mean to sound ignorant, but what was the lesson about? I don't have a textbook… and I cant read Japanese." Lucas asked habitually twirling a piece of his unruly hair, something he did when nervous.

"Oh! I can help you out." A friendly girl said, her hair was a startling fluffy green color, most likely dyed, and her eye's were a warm friendly blue contrasting hard with her hair.

Some of the students sighed in disappointment which the girl promptly ignored. "You always help out the new students Airi, let us do it for once." A male student complained.

"Aww thanks guys, but as the class rep I have too." She said sending a wink to Lucas. "I'm Airi Kusunagi, nice to meet you Lucas-kun." She said pulling up a desk to his grinning as the students departed from his area, moving back to their social circles.

"Hello Kusunagi-san. Thank you for the help." Lucas said genuinely, her bubbly attitude reminding him of his deceased mother. Sadness briefly overtook him as he remembered the always smiling woman.

 _Even in death, my mother smiled…_ Lucas thought, his train of thought was broken by a massive book slamming onto the desk filled with math problems, Lucas paled a bit, he was an impressive student in Ohio, always A's or B's in every class… except math which he struggled just to get a D.

Airi seemed to notice this. "Not so good a math huh? That's fine, I figured we should start with something that wouldn't require to much reading of Japanese."

"I despise math Kusunagi-san." Lucas said depressingly making Airi giggle.

"I do too, but we gotta do it, here, I'll show you what page were on." She said.

They spent the rest of the class solving math problems, Lucas lagging behind a lot more due to his inability at math, marveling at how Airi was so good at it, Kawakami came back in at one point and walked over to check on him and ended up helping him out.

At the end of class Lucas was already drained, he may have gotten good grades, but he hated school. "Ugh, at least I have Saturdays and Sundays off." He said aloud to no one.

Airi overheard this. "Oh American schools have Saturdays off too?" Airi asked, curiosity piqued.

Lucas did not like where this conversation was going. "Yes? Why are you surprised?" He asked, Airi shrugged her shoulders.

"cause we have school Saturdays here too." She said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Lucas wanted to end his life right there, he actually let out a whimper as he laid his head on the desk in despair. "Why me…." He despaired making Airi snort.

"Buck up, it's not that bad Lucas-kun." She chastised, then deciding to tease him a little, she got a little to close to Lucas' personal space.

"I mean hey, you get to see me more." She said, her voice taking on a silky tone, expecting Lucas to blush.

The guy wasn't even phased. "Uh, no." He said simply, leaning back as he pushed her face away.

Airi looked back shocked. "Harsh." She said jokingly.

Lucas just rolled his eyes, but allowed a small, rare smile grace his face, and Airi decided she very much liked his smile.

 **Line break Akira**

Akira was in his room in Leblanc on his phone with the news in the background talking about the heart thief when it happened, the nav started picking up what the reporter was saying, much like when him and Ryuji found Kamoshida's castle two years ago.

Suddenly he wished Morgana was there, Sojiro had taken the cat to the vet cause Morgana somehow caught a cold.

" **heart thief. Shibuya."** The female voice spoke the words back to Akira as he stared at the phone in shock, just like that two of the requirements were met to enter the metaverse. Now he just needed the name of the killer and what his targets desire were thought of to him.

He quickly opened the group chat, fingers flying across the screen as he typed out what just happened to the others.

His phone quickly beeped. The first to reply was Ryuji **. "Holy shit for real? That's so lucky."**

Ann was next. **"That's great! We should work on convincing Lucas to help us now since we already have two keywords."**

Makoto responded. " **I'm not surprised that is was Akira who did it, his luck is something else."**

Haru sent out her message. " **Nice job! But we should still proceed carefully as to not look suspicious when we do research."**

Now Yusuke. **"Where's Futaba?"**

Akira typed out a reply. **"She's in class so she cant respond right now."**

Yusuke continued speaking. **"I have done some research since we last spoke on the serial killer, I have looked up the methods that the heart thief has and have found some disturbing news."**

" **What did you find?"** Ryuji asked.

" **It seems that the method of killing a person and cutting there heart out in such a way is not merely for collecting purposes, but for eating them, apparently people who are confirmed cannibals kill and eat their heart as a way to gain power and restore youth, thinking of them and others around them as nothing but 'prey' to be consumed."** Yusuke said, Akira felt a little sick suddenly.

" **So basically…. The serial killer thinks of them as just… livestock?"** Makoto asked.

" **Precisely."** Yusuke confirmed.

" **Let's all just acknowledge that my theory was actually right real quick kay guys?"** Ryuji bragged which everyone pointedly ignored.

" **That's… so horrible. We have to change his heart. Quickly."** Ann said.

" **I agree. Ann, have Shiho text Lucas asking him to come to Leblanc. It's time we figure this out. In the meantime, Akira, try putting the word prey into the nav and see if you get a hit."** Ryuji said.

Akira nodded before realizing they cant actually see him. And sent out okay before closing the chat, he opened the nav back up and entered in the word prey.

" **Candidate found."** The female robotic voice said, making Akira's heart bounce in his chest.

 _We've almost got you-you bastard._ Akira thought, a smirk coming to his face, letting his Joker side come through a little.

 **Line break Lucas Pov**

When the last class of the day ended Lucas sighed with relief, thankful that class was finally ending, and even more thankful that Futaba hadn't come to bother him.

Suddenly his phone started buzzing, as he took out his phone he wondered who it was. Another small smile came to his face as he realized it was in fact Shiho who was texting him, remembering they exchanged contact info.

" **Hey Lucas-chan, are you out of school for today?"** She sent.

" **I am, why do you ask?"** He sent back.

" **I was wondering if you could come to Leblanc… like right now?"**

The smile fell from Lucas' face like a stone in water, already knowing why she was asking for that. He still had to ask anyway.

" **This is about that Persona stuff… isn't it?"**

"… **Yes"**

Lucas sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to avoid a headache, his phone buzzed again and he looked at it.

" **Before you say no, all I ask is that you hear us out. Please. We'll be waiting for you at Leblanc, I hope you come."** Shiho sent.

 _God… freaking… damnit. Why do I have to deal with this._ Lucas thought, frustration building in his chest until he wanted to scream.

"You know what? Screw it. I'll go… not like I got anything else to do." He grumbled darkly, heading to the station.

Airi watched Lucas go in confusion. "What's up with him?" She wondered aloud, then shrug her shoulders. "Not my business." She mused as she walked the opposite direction.

 **Line break**

It took Lucas a minute to find Leblanc, having to remember the direction he ran in when him Futaba and Akira were running from the police. As such when he finally found it he was seriously debating whether or not just walking away for good.

He didn't get the chance to do it, right as he was about to the door opened and Akira appeared standing in the doorway.

"You came." He said, shock evident on his face, Lucas scratched the back of his head.

"Yea, I don't know why though." Lucas said honestly, Akira smiled softly.

"Come in, the others are upstairs, I'll bring them down." He said, quickly moving through the small café, Lucas following in behind and taking a seat up at the bar, the older man behind the counter smoking a cigarette and looking at Lucas.

"Hey kid, remember me?" The man asked. Lucas shook his head no causing the man to grumble. "I'm the one who patched you up. Names Sojiro Sakura but you can call me boss, how's that hand of yours?" Sojiro asked.

Now Lucas remembered. "Ahh, it's doing fine, doesn't even hurt anymore actually." He told Sojiro, who nodded in satisfaction.

"Hmm, we aren't getting any customers today. I'm gonna head home, I want no part of this metaverse stuff." Sojiro said aloud to no one, that made Lucas' eyes widen a little.

"You know about the metaverse?" Lucas asked, heart beating fast but he didn't know why.

Sojiro looked at him as if he just asked what 2 + 2 was. "Of course I do, never been there myself but being around all of them I learned some things about it. Don't really care for it though." He said, sighing and rubbing the back of his head.

Suddenly Akira came back downstairs with several people trailing behind him. _They're the same people from last time_. Lucas thought. His focus briefly falling to Shiho before snapping back to Akira.

"Alright Lucas, I'd like to properly introduce you too-" Akira began but was interrupted by Lucas raising his hand.

"No point, I already know who they are." Lucas said.

"Oh, right." Akira responded sheepishly.

An awkward silence ensued over the group of people, neither fully willing to speak first to break the tension, Lucas sighed deciding to speak up.

"I assume the reason you had Shiho call me here is to talk about the metaverse right? You already knew I'd shoot down anyone else that approached me so you used… not so sneaky tactics to get me here. And now that I'm here your tounge-tied? Come on now." Lucas taunted, hoping to get a rise out of the group before him.

It worked like a charm, the tension breaking up the girl Lucas remembered as Makoto stepped forward. "You are correct on all counts, we are not proud of it but it had to be done." She explained.

"It's whatever really. What I want to know is why you've called me here, can I assume you did it to convince me to join you guys?" Lucas asked her, crossing his arms over his chest.

Makoto nodded her head in confirmation. "We wanted to try and appeal to your sense of justice, so we came up with the idea that maybe if we could convince you to come with us to a palace just once it would change your mind about everything." She explained.

"That's not everything though is it? I get the sense there's no way you would do something like this without a more solidified plan, one with less risk of failing right?" Lucas questioned, a small smirk on his face.

Ryuji spoke up. "You let it slip that your mother and father had passed away when you stormed out on us." He started, Lucas' entire body tensed up but Ryuji continued. "We thought we could take on the palace of the heart thief, some serial killer ruins families by taking the lives of innocent people, your mother and father were innocent, we figured that motivation may give you a reason to fight."

"I…" Lucas tried to speak but couldn't, it was like there was a log in his throat, he looked away from them all, and suddenly the entire group could see a new side of the teenager. The heartbroken, lost side of him, everyone felt sympathy, they knew in a way what he was going through, Makoto especially, losing her father and mother long ago, those wounds never truly heal.

Shiho moved over to him and put her hand on his and was disturbed to find him shaking. "Lucas-chan…" Shiho breathed.

Suddenly Lucas stopped shaking, taking a deep breath to steel his nerves and conceal his emotions he turned back to the group, and just like that every bit of vulnerability was gone from him.

"That is such a shitty plan you know." He said simply. Making everyone feel crestfallen.

Until Lucas' next words.

"But it worked… I'll help you this one time. But don't expect to much out of me, I don't have a persona." Lucas clarified.

The smiles that broke out on everyone's faces forced a small smile to Lucas' own face, they all looked so relieved, and slightly stunned it had been that simple to convince him.

 _Mom, I hope your looking down on me. Father, I hope you're with her comforting her wherever you both are._ Lucas thought, the small smile slipping from his face as he turned back to the group.

"I want you to explain everything to me, from the start, how you all know so much about it. What your plans are now. Everything." Lucas said.

"It's going to be a long story, are you sure?" Ann asked.

"I asked didn't I? Just tell me." Lucas fired back.

They took a while to tell Lucas everything, from Kamoshida all the way until now, Lucas having many questions, making many deductions of his own that were impressively accurate, Makoto felt a bit of a rivalry forming with him in terms of intelligence, he was very smart and it showed, but could sense the potential deep bonds of friendship being formed, Lucas was still a little cold with his attitude but he wasn't outright hostile now which was major progress.

"So basically, you have everything you need to enter his palace except his name…. isn't that going to be impossible considering he's a serial killer, actually no, couldn't you just use the name the police gave him?" Lucas questioned, his hand under his chin in thought strands of hair falling a little in front of his eyes which he batted away impatiently.

"We've tried that actually, however it seems we need the real name of the criminal, which yes, will be rather difficult to acquire." Yusuke admitted.

"However, we are the Phantom thieves, stealing distorted desires with methods that should be considered impossible in the logical sense." Haru boasted.

"Hmm…" Lucas thought, a sense of foreboding as his mind flashed back to this morning when he got a hit on the metaverse using his uncles name, he desperately didn't want to believe it was possible, the idea of his only family remaining being a cold-blooded murderer made him sick to his stomach.

If it was true… then Lucas had a serial killers blood in him, that degraded Lucas' already deteriorating mood, resting his elbows on his knees he found he couldn't make eye contact with anyone anymore, his chest pinched with anxiety.

Akira noticed this and looked at his newest ally with concern, then an epiphany struck him, something he had to ask, but didn't want to believe. "Lucas…. Do you have an idea to who it could be?" He asked, the gentle tone to his voice surprising everyone.

Lucas still flinched as if he had gotten shot, and he curled into himself a little, however despite this he still looked to Akira with an emotionless face.

"I'm almost positive I know who it is." He said simply, making everyone gasp in shock.

"You gotta tell us who it is!" Ryuji shouted.

"Wont you tell us Lucas?" Ann asked sweetly.

Makoto took her phone out and loaded up the app subtly. "You have to tell us, we-" She started but Lucas interrupted.

"Christopher Takumi." He said.

" **Candidate found, Christopher… Heart Thief… Shibuya… Prey… Begin Navigation?"** The voice asked, but everyone was staring at Lucas with sad looks on their faces, too stunned and at a loss for words.

"Oh my god… Lucas-chan…" Shiho said, tears in her eyes as she reached for her friend, he turned away from her.

"This…. Is a boss I'd rather not fight against…" Futaba said sadly.

Lucas laughed darkly, no humor whatsoever in his voice as he spoke. "My only family left… and he's a goddamn serial killer. I'm related to a murderer. A cold-blooded piece of trash. And were supposed to go in and change his heart? Tch…. That wont bring back the families he's ruined."

"It wont, and yes, changing his heart wont bring back your mother or father, or the people he's killed. What you helping us will do is stop a man from ruining more families. Bring him to justice and have him grovel for forgiveness the rest of his life. Give those ruined families the peace that you never found." Akira said, a determination in his voice that reminded the original phantom thieves of Joker, the person Akira became in the metaverse. The leader.

Lucas made eye contact with Akira and took his first true look at him, who he saw was a guy not much older than him with strong true beliefs. And someone who had the motivation to fight for them even if he risked his own life doing so.

Lucas felt his heart beating rapidly but he couldn't understand why, he felt… alive. Human, like maybe he _should_ fight too. Not for himself, but for the people who still have that chance that was ripped away from Lucas. Because if he could do something to help… Why not do it?

Lucas couldn't find the words to express his thoughts properly.

"Your right… too right. Okay. I'll help you do this… I'll help you change my uncles heart." Lucas said, that determination burning through his body to his very core, He walked up to Akira and took his phone from his hands.

"Begin Nav."

 **A/N: I wasn't being lazy actually, I had a bit of writers block in this chapter and couldn't decide what to do. Next chapter They will be in the Metaverse I promise lol, I wanted to give time to build up Lucas' character a bit. Give him a reason to fight no matter how arbitrary.**

 **And to the reviewer that said something about how Lucas curses so much, I appreciate your review truly. But I feel I have to defend myself a little. Ryuji in the actual game curses A LOT more than Lucas does, Like A LOT. And I don't exactly want to change Lucas around too much. Also since his mother and father are dead he kind of doesn't really care about what he says. Once again, I'm truly appreciative of your review, but I had to defend my position right there.**

 **I will get the next chapter up whenever I can. Thanks for reading this… kinda weak story. But I appreciate it nonetheless. Peace out.**


	6. Chapter 6

Lucas doubled over in pain as the world distorted around him, his head spiking with pain so bad he was positive he would be sick.

"Yeah that happened to us our first time coming into the metaverse, something to do with reality itself changing." Ryuji said, a sympathetic smile on his face.

"Ugh, that feels horrible man." Lucas complained, looking up just to immediately do a double take.

"Holy crap your clothes!" Lucas pointed to everyone in disbelief, other than him and Shiho (who was struggling to keep composed) they had changed into different outfits.

Trying to not ogle Ann, who was wearing a red latex suit and did things to Lucas' mind, he turned to Akira who looked highly amused by the situation. "Care to explain this to me?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"The change in outfits, and the masks, are to prevent you from being affected by the distortions, and the sickness that are the distorted desires, this is another reality as a whole after all." A voice behind him said.

Lucas turned around to find no-one there, he then noticed however a creature that looked remarkable like a cat, however it walked on two legs.

"Hello! I'm Morgana, the cat you saw in the café." It said casually and friendly, as if discussing the weather or the latest news.

Lucas went slack-jawed and actually swayed a bit on his feet.

"Oh my god, the cats talking." Lucas said weakly, the entire group (minus Shiho who had paled slightly) started laughing.

"H-hold on, let us explain." Makoto said fighting giggles.

They finished explaining everything to Lucas and Shiho (Who didn't talk much Lucas noticed).

"I see…" Lucas mumbled, contemplating.

"I understand that things are supposed to be… different since we are in a different reality." Shiho spoke up.

"Which is Christopher's heart." Akira clarified.

"Yes, but everything looks the same in Leblanc. Why is that?" Shiho asked.

"Because Christopher probably doesn't see this place as a hunting ground seeing as it's small, out of the way and inside a building." Morgana theorized.

"We can take solace in the fact that as a result of this, we can most likely use this place as an entry and exit point." Yusuke suggested.

"Good idea, that way we wont have to waste time worrying about finding one." Haru praised.

Suddenly a loud scream was heard outside of Leblanc, followed by maniacal laughter that sounded a lot like Christopher. Lucas' blood ran cold and Shiho stepped further away from the door.

"L-let's go check it out…" Makoto suggested, though she sounded like she didn't want to.

"Right." Akira said, taking the lead, Lucas noticed with some respect that Akira didn't seem at all affected, steeling his nerves he strode up beside Akira as he was opening Leblanc's door.

Lucas gasped in shock at what he saw, the rest of his associates following behind.

It was like mother nature had attacked the city, trees were growing out of the street and buildings, vines were hanging off the trees connecting with others like a tightrope, there were patches of grass protruding from the cracks in the concrete, some as tall as even Yusuke.

What stuck out the most to Lucas, and probably the other things were three things.

One: The moon was blood red.

Two: There was also blood dripping of some trees like a red rain drizzle.

Three: Utterly massacred bodies littered the streets, some new, some old. All with their hearts cut out, Lucas tried not to vomit when he realized that some hearts were laying close to they're owners bodies, with chunks seemingly bitten out of them.

Shiho gasped in horror whimpering. And Lucas' knees buckled, he found himself not able to get up no matter how much he tried.

Then he really _did_ vomit.

Akira rubbed his back gently as Lucas spewed his guts out all over the payment, it took awhile for Lucas to regain his senses, and now he felt dizzy and a little weak from all the vomiting.

"Sorry." Lucas apologized, Akira just nodded his head with a gentle smile, no words needed.

"God, this sick son of a bitch." Ann said, pure anger in her eyes.

"Were here for a reason right? Look over there." Lucas pointed to a street leading to the train station. "Seems like we can go that way, let's go."

As Lucas walked off Shiho followed behind with fear in her eyes the Phantom thieves looked at each other.

"Hey… doesn't he remind you a little bit of… of Akechi?" Ann asked.

"Yea, the way he seems to be perfect in every way including how well he looks to be taking all of this." Makoto agreed.

"True, I agree with the first thing but I wouldn't really say he's taking it well, he puked all over the pavement." Ryuji said.

"You think he's putting up a front?" Morgana asked.

It was Akira who spoke. "He does remind me of Akechi, with the way he simply _is_. It makes me nervous how he's able to make deductions on everything like that with little understanding."

"He's definitely on par with me and Makoto." Futaba said

"There's definitely an undertone of arrogance to his words and the way he acts too, it's like he thinks he's better than us." Haru said.

"I don't really see it to be frank." Yusuke said.

"Maybe we're just being overly paranoid for no reason because he's a wild card like Joker and Akechi, we shouldn't judge just yet, I'm not saying to not trust our own judgement, but we should hold off on judging him for right now, after all he did lose his mom and dad." Ryuji said.

"That's surprisingly level headed coming from you." Morgana teased.

"It has been two years since you last saw me, I'd like to think I've mellowed out a bit. let's hurry up and go, they're getting ahead of us." Ryuji countered, following after Lucas and Shiho, the rest of the group not far behind.

The things Lucas seen while walking weren't pleasing to say the least, the atmosphere felt ominous. The buildings were cracked and worn down, more trees sprouting from them. Vines hung down onto the city level which they walked, and the city was deathly silent.

A sudden alley way made Lucas' skin crawl, Shiho stepped close to him, trying to find comfort in her friends presence, Ann put her hand on Shiho's back and Akira walked close to Lucas.

A blood curling scream made Lucas' knees wobbly, and the Phantom thieves formed a circle around Lucas and Shiho.

"It was a bad idea to take them here." Yusuke whispered, not sure why he was being quiet.

"Little late for regrets don't ya think?" Morgana whispered back.

"My-my what have we here? A couple of lost little sheep just _itching_ for the taking." A voice said, scratchy and familiar.

"He's coming." Lucas whispered, a whimper trying to claw it's way up his throat.

Suddenly the wind picked up hard, trees and vines blowing everywhere, the buildings creaking and cracking under the strain, a chilling laugh. The laugh of a predator.

That same wind suddenly pushed into the phantom thieves, sending them flying back breaking the circle they had formed. Lucas instinctively put his arms over his eyes to block the debris flying from the wind.

When he looked back out again he saw him, his uncle Christopher. But not him. This Christopher looked like a cross breed between a wolf and a human, with a wolfish smile and clawed hands, fangs gleaming red in the blood moon. Lucas tried not to be sick for the second time as he noticed that held in Christopher's right hand was a _still beating heart_.

Shadow Christopher took notice of Lucas' staring. "Want some?" He asked Lucas, holding out the heart, every pulse of the heart making a little blood spurt out.

Lucas couldn't find his voice, such was the degree of fear he was feeling. "Ha ha hah aha. How delightful." Christopher mocked with that wolf grin.

Suddenly he appeared _right in front of Lucas_ , nose to nose with him, his smile looking demonic up close. He leaned into Lucas' ear.

"I can smell your fear." Christopher said, taking a long sniff of Lucas, the whimper in Lucas throat forcing it's way out.

"Lucas watch out! PERSONA!" Akira yelled out. A form shrouded in blue flame appeared behind Akira's back, Donning a blood red and white suit, a black top hat and ten-foot-long black wings and an obsidian overcoat, to top it off a thin charcoal turtleneck.

Lucas dove out of the way scraping his knees on the pavement as a black and red _something_ hit Christopher sending him flying back crashing into a car, impaling himself on a tree branch growing out of it.

Christopher didn't make a sound when he got hurt, other than the insane laughter. That made Lucas' knees shake.

"Excellent! I haven't had any prey that fought back in so long." Christopher ripped himself off the tree branch, and the Phantom thieves watched in horror as he bit a chunk off the heart in his hand, the wound quickly closing up with a sickening sucking sound.

"The hunt is on! Come after me if you dare! I promise you will regret it! COME MY SHADOWS." Christopher yelled.

Suddenly robotic automatons materialized out of the ground, however they didn't stay that way for long. They started shaking and imploded from the inside out, revealing two knights on horses.

The phantom thieves ran in front of Lucas and Shiho. Multiple figures shrouded in blue flames following behind.

"Two Beriths, we may have lost our strongest Persona's, but that doesn't mean a thing! We still have our experiences. Yusuke, attack with ice! Ann, don't use fire!" Akira barked out orders left and right as they fought the shadows, expertly dodging and attacking, playing on their enemies weaknesses.

While they were fighting Shiho suddenly let out a terrified scream, Lucas whipped around and saw Christopher there holding her by the neck, and something else.

Something horrible.

Lucas saw _himself_. He stared with trepidation as he looked at himself, the only difference being the cruel smirk and the yellow eyes.

By now the Phantom thieves had finished off the two shadows and appeared by Lucas side.

"SHIHO! NO!" Ann screamed and made to attack Christopher, however the latter held up a clawed finger to Shiho's throat giving the former pause.

Christopher took a long sniff off Shiho, she screamed again in fear as tears fell freely from her eyes. "Her fear smells so… _delicious_." Christopher said. Then looked at Shadow Lucas. "Isn't that right? My apprentice?"

 _Apprentice!?_ _That's what he sees me as? But he's never…_ Lucas didn't finish his thought. Not wanting to. The Shadow version of him spoke.

"Yes, very exciting. It makes me want to kill." His voice sounding like an echo, as if it had two layers.

Lucas found his voice again. "Let her go uncle. Or you will regret it." The threat hung in the air for the briefest moment before both Shadow Lucas and Christopher let out loud laughs.

"No." Christopher said. Suddenly he raised his hand, and what could only be described as the hardest earthquake in history started happening. The ground cracked in half as the world seemingly split apart.

However, it wasn't an earthquake, suddenly, a fucking _medieval castle_ started appearing out of the ground off in the distance, but it kept going, and under the building a _mountain_ appeared, protruding into the sky, seemingly touching the blood red moon.

The rumbling stopped, and The Phantom thieves stared in awe. "You like?" Christopher asked. "This is _my_ world and now this bitch is mine to kill as well." Christopher said, shaking Shiho who screamed.

Lucas started feeling rage, and something else building inside him, he opened his mouth to speak, but Christopher beat him to it.

"But let it be said I'm not merciful! You are the first since the one in the black mask to put up a fight!" He said. The phantom thieves' eyes widened, Lucas looked confused. "I'm impressed, so I'm gonna make you a deal, but then again it's not really a deal since you have to accept but no matter! You have… four weeks. To make it up my mountain and to the top floor of my castle, or I'll kill the girl!"

"That's insane! Were gonna kill you-you piece of shit!" Lucas shouted, pain budding in his chest.

"Oh?" Christopher cocked his head like a dog, "I would have thought you sheep had no leverage. It's simple, she dies right here right now. Or I take her up there and she dies in four weeks."

Shiho suddenly kicked out at Christopher shocking him enough to let her go. She tried to sprint forward, but Shadow Lucas grabbed her by the throat and threw her back, she gasped in pain as her body hit the pavement.

"Stupid bitch!" Shadow Lucas mouthed off as Christopher got up, angry as he grabbed Shiho rougher than before and punched her in the face as hard as he could.

Lucas broke.

Lucas attacked the cognitive version of him, catching the fake off guard enough to get a single punch in. Lucas threw another punch but the fake grabbed his arm, and broke it.

Lucas was so angry he didn't even feel it. Nor did he feel the kick that rocketed into his rib cage.

But he did feel the pain behind his eyes. His body started convulsing, Lucas started thrashing around.

"Lucas!" Akira shouted, not realizing what was happening.

"It seems my nephew got a little rambunctious. Sorry about that! Now your friends having a seizure." Shadow Christopher looked at Shiho then Both Lucas' and then the Phantom thieves.

"Four weeks, kill some of them Lucas." He commanded the shadow version of Lucas who grinned maniacally.

"Of course." He said and cracked his knuckles and attacked.

Even though it was eight versus one, The Phantom Thieves were getting overpowered, Shadow Lucas was on a whole other level than the two Beriths. The had faced earlier, attacking with beams of darkness as well as picking up cars and ripping them in half, using them as gauntlets.

Shadow Lucas charged toward Akira who had gotten knocked down intending to finish him off. However Yusuke jumped in the way as Shadow Lucas attacked with his car gauntlet sending Yusuke flying, it gave Akira just enough time to get up and jump out of the way.

Very quickly, the Phantom Thieves were down. "Oh come on, that's all you got!? How are you supposed to save your friend with this pathetic strength?" Shadow Lucas taunted.

The real Lucas stopped shaking, the pain behind his eyes at a whole new level, no scratch that, his entire body in pain, but not from the broken bones.

It was something else.

Lucas was angry, angrier than he's ever been, that piece of shit. Those Pieces of shit dare do this to _him_? He'll make them pay.

Lucas stood up. "HEY ASSHOLE, TURN THIS WAY RIGHT NOW!" He yelled at the shadow version of himself. The sheer commanding tone of his voice making him turn around.

The real Lucas' eyes were glowing now, the Phantom thieves noticed this, and hope filled their bodies.

 _He's about to awaken!_ Akira thought, very aware the same thought process was going through his friends.

The pain was getting worse, it was _unfathomable_. Lucas struggled to stay standing as he held his head.

He looked up, and a black and silver mask, embroidered with obsidian crystals around it's silver eyes was on his face.

"HAHAHAHAHA! You yell at me like that and then you double over in pain! You had me worried for a second!" Shadow Lucas taunted, unaware the real Lucas couldn't hear him, and unaware of the mask.

" **I see you've finally found it. Your resolve."** The voice in Lucas' head observed.

"Yes…" Lucas gasped in pain.

" **You've finally accepted thine own unlimited power! You have accepted thine responsibility, to protect your subjects!"**

Wind exploded from Lucas' body, strong enough to push his shadow back some.

"Yes… but… I am just not any king, _we_ are not just any king." Lucas mumbled. He gripped his mask and grinned.

" **YES! I AM THOUGH, THOUGH ART I, AND FROM THIS DAY FORTH WE ARE!"**

"The kings of hell! Come! GRIM REAPER!" Lucas screamed in pain as he ripped the mask off his face, _black_ fire exploding around him and consuming his body.

Shadow Lucas watched in fear. The Phantom Thieves watched in excited awe.

When the fire died down, behind him stood a hooded figure in all black, tattered cloth, inside the cloth a human skeleton grinned, around his neck held an hourglass, as if counting down the minutes until someone's death, in the figure's hands held a massive bone scythe, ready to take a soul. ( _ **AN: If you want to know were I got this description from look up the grim reaper on google, for me it was the third image in the image section.)**_

And in front of the figure stood Lucas, who wore something similar, however on his wrists chains wrapped around his arms all the way up to his shoulders he wore black combat boots, his hood was black and silver connected to black shoulder pads, he donned a tattered slightly grayed cloak on his back, his legs covered in black flexible metal armor. In his hands he held a long black dual scythe with a flame design on the blade itself.

"OMIGOD! He looks like the fallen knight from Dark Souls 3! Just with chains and no helmet!" Futaba swooned, the rest of the team looking at her in confusion.

Lucas looked at himself and back at his persona who looked down at him, he then looked back at his shadow who looked terrified, Lucas smirked.

"Scared? You should be. Because I'm gonna make you beg for your life!" Lucas taunted his own shadow.

His shadow whimpered, and Lucas' smile turned borderline insane.

"I'm gonna enjoy this, save your breath because it will be your last!"

 **A/N: Literally played the awakening theme during this chapter to hype myself up lol, I thought I did pretty well all things considered. I hope you think so too.**

 **Oh and gleamfang! Read your review and I appreciate how you review my stories, so I'm going to respond to you here. And Trust me because I am very aware of how gary stu he is, there is a reason for this! I hope you really analyze this chapter and come to your own conclusion of why this is the case! As a matter of fact everyone please review me your ideas on why I did this on Purpose! Once again thanks for the reviews and I'll see you in the next chapter.**


	7. Chapter 7

Lucas stood before his shadow, that maniacal grin still on his face as his Persona stood behind him, his shadow backed up and suddenly exploded into black and red liquid, reforming into a giant werewolf.

"Y- you bastard! I'll make the last moments of your life hell!" Lucas' shadow barked, an amusing sight considering he was an animal.

Lucas spread his hands, still smirking. "Do you have any idea what your up against? No? Fine. I'll show you!" He said raising his hand to his face, cloaking It in shadow.

"Manifest into power! Agilo!" Lucas shouted, fire exploding out of Grim Reaper hitting Lucas' shadow damaging it, his shadow screamed in pain, but fought through it as it came through the smoke lunging at Lucas.

"Let's go captain!" Ryuji suddenly yelled, a pirate on a ship blocking Shadow Lucas attack, saving Lucas from damage. "Whip 'em Persona!" He yelled, this time Ryuji's Persona used his sword to slash at Shadow Lucas, knocking him back.

Ryuji and the rest of the phantom thieves ran to Lucas' side, Lucas felt adrenaline building in his body. And before he could think about it he was barking orders. "Let's do this! Ryuji, attack with your Persona skills, Makoto, Morgana! You do the same!"

"Right!" They all said in unison.

"Johanna! Frei!" Makoto commanded.

"Zorro! Use Garu" Morgana said.

"Captain Kidd, strike again with Zio!" Ryuji said.

All the attacks hit and overwhelmed Lucas' shadow, an agonized scream ripping from it. Lucas took the initiative by running at his shadow, spinning his dual scythe in his right hand. Yusuke, Akira and Haru right by his side.

"N-no! Damn you bastard!" Shadow Lucas howled, firing a beam of energy out of his mouth, while definitely powerful, was inaccurate and missed Lucas. "How! How can one person change the tide of the entire battle?"

"Because this is what separates us!" Lucas responded, him and his four allies attacking all at once, Lucas would later learn that he just helped perform an 'all out attack'.

Makoto tried to ignore the fact that Lucas almost said word for word what Akechi would say the short time he fought with the Phantom thieves, she decided she would bring it up with the group later.

Akira for some reason was annoyed at Lucas and all his friends, though he couldn't fully understand why.

Lucas turned away from his shadow as it spurted black and red blood, a cocky smirk on his face as he spun and rested the scythe behind his shoulder. **(A/N: That's his all out attack pose lol)**

Lucas' shadow went back to normal, on his knees coughing and gasping, Lucas was shocked he didn't kill it but quickly moved in attempt to rectify the issue.

Only to get stopped by Akira with a hand on his wrist. "What? We need to kill him and keep moving!" Lucas said annoyed.

"We need answers and killing him right now wont get us any." Akira countered. "Keep it together." He released Lucas' arm and his Persona, and after a moments hesitation Lucas did the same.

Akira internally sighed with relief, then turned to Shadow Lucas. "Alright, I'm only gonna ask this once. Where the hell did Christopher take our friend, what is he going to do with her?"

Shadow Lucas glared defiantly, but realizing he had no other option he answered. "Are you stupid? The damn Medieval castle of course."

Akira nodded to Ryuji who knocked Lucas' shadow on the head a little. "You didn't answer my second question. What is he going to do to our friend?" Akira demanded again.

"Ugh… He's… going to kill her, however you wont have to worry about him doing it earlier, he never kills earlier than the dates he sets, but that's not all…" Shadow Lucas trailed off.

Lucas was in his shadow's face in a second. "What. The. Hell. Else." He demanded.

Suddenly Shadow Lucas grinned savagely. "He's going to torture her. Every. Single. Day. Physically, mentally, you name it." He taunted the Phantom Theives.

"You son of a bitch!" Ann screamed at him. Shadow Lucas just laughed harder.

Suddenly a powerful force exploded from Shadow Lucas' body knocking the Phantom Thieves back, Shadow Lucas took the moment to get up and run at high speeds towards the castle, disappearing out of sight.

"NO DAMNIT!" Lucas howled in rage, and glared at Akira. "Why the hell didn't you just let me kill him! We could have found out what you wanted to know a different way, now he's escaped!"

Akira glared back in defiance. "How exactly was I supposed to know he'd be able to escape from us?"

"Arent you some sort of professional? Your supposed to know these things!" Lucas fired back getting in Akira's face.

Akira's eyes flashed with something fierce. "I am the leader here, you're an amateur, but even leaders cant get everything right."

"You may have been the leader two years ago, but now your nothing but a jester. My Persona is an actual king. Shouldn't that make me the leader?" Lucas challenged. Akira's eyes flashed with rage, his friends shocked with how Lucas made Akira lose his cool.

"That's enough both of you!" Makoto yelled, sending both wild cards her signature Niijima glare, even Lucas back-pedaled a little. Makoto took a few deep calming breaths before she started speaking.

"Who is leader doesn't matter right now, what matters is that Shiho, a _non-Persona_ user has been taken, what we need to do is focus on saving her."

"I agree, Shiho's my best friend. We need to save her." Ann said.

"I agree too, but that castle is bigger than anything we've ever faced, and this challenge will be very difficult since we have to go through the city, up the mountain and through the castle all in four weeks… Or Shiho's dead." Ryuji said.

"Then we'd better start right now right? The faster we can get this done the less danger Shiho will be in." Morgana said.

"Hmm, we're in quite a situation aren't we?" Haru mused.

"Yes, but we've faced a god and come out victorious, if we can do that we can do this." Yusuke said.

"I'll be there with my support for you guys." Futaba said.

"Which brings us back to the elephant in the room, er… city, we need a leader so we're more organized instead of fighting haphazardly, reckless fighting will get us killed, I believe I could do it." Lucas said.

"I can as well." Akira said, prompting a stare down between Lucas and Akira. Makoto sighed.

 _This cannot continue. If they keep fighting like this they'll get us all killed._ Makoto thought.

It was Haru who came up with the idea. "How about instead of choosing a leader for one big group, we split the group in half and have two leaders for each separate one? That way this tension can ease up, and we can cover more ground that way by splitting up." Haru suggested.

Akira scowled and crossed his arms. "I can lead the entire group just fine." He protested.

"I'm completely willing to do this, great idea Haru." Lucas praised, Haru flashing a bright smile at him.

"It seems we are at an impasse, however I have to agree with Haru, it will be good to cover more ground. I shall go with Lucas." Yusuke said, Akira frowned as if hurt.

"Eh what the hell, Lucas, you have my strength." Ryuji said, shocking everyone.

"Really Ryuji?" Lucas asked, genuine shock on his face.

"Yea might as well, I'm curious about your Persona, it looks sick, and don't think I didn't notice that black fire. That was awesome, especially since we all had blue fire come out of our Persona's." Ryuji explained.

Akira's face had grown into something resembling downright disbelief. He felt a twinge of something in his chest, but couldn't identify what.

"If you'd have me, I'd like to go with you too Lucas." Haru said, a bright smile on her face as she walked towards him.

"Of course, I'll take all the help I can get." Lucas said, a rare grin on his face. He turned to the other Phantom thieves, all deciding to go with Akira instead.

"Alright, let's meet back up at the bottom of the mountain, watch out for shadows." Ryuji said, then his eyes abruptly widened as he turned to Lucas. "I almost forgot! We should tell our codenames."

"Codenames?" Lucas echoed.

"Yeah, just using our regular names wouldn't be cool right? And who knows what kind of effect using our real names will have on the Palace?" Ryuji explained.

Lucas nodded and put his hand under his chin in thought. "I suppose that would make good tactical sense, and yes, that does sound awesome. What are your code names?"

"Skull, Panther, Mona, Noir, Fox, Queen, Oracle, and Joker." Ryuji said gesturing to each person with their respective names.

"Huh, what about me?" Lucas asked, making the other's pause in thought.

"How about Grim? It fits your Persona." Yusuke suggested, Lucas made a sour face.

"I don't like that. Next?" Lucas asked.

"How about Reaper?" Haru suggested.

"Oooh that sounds badass!" Ryuji exclaimed.

"No way, that sounds like someone who's a murderer." Makoto denied.

Lucas looked a little crestfallen. He actually liked that name, it was Joker who came up with it.

"*Sigh* How about King? Since he thinks himself a king and all." The Mocking tone in his did not go unnoticed by anyone, however Lucas ignored it.

"I'm totally King! That's my codename!" Lucas said grinning.

"Alright! King it is, hey Queen! King and Queen and Joker fighting together, we totally have a team of Royals!" Oracle exclaimed.

Queen rolled her eyes, but a smile was on her face.

"Alright guys. We've wasted enough time. Fox, Noir, Skull, let's move!" King said, with a final nod to Team B they took off.

 **Line Break Akira/ Joker.**

"Ouch! What was that for?" Joker said, rubbing his arm from where his girlfriend had hit him.

"That was for acting like a total Jackass when King saved our lives from his own shadow. Yea maybe he was being a bit arrogant and pompous but everyone's personality changes when they use their Persona, you were out of line." Queen said, crossing her arms with a scowl on her face.

"I was not out of line! He shouldn't have acted the way he did I-I cant believe your taking his side!" Joker fired back hurt.

"Hey everyone?" Oracle tried to interrupt. Her words were ignored.

"I'm not taking his side! I agree he was acting like he was better than everyone else, I'm just saying the fact that you were so openly hostile is _not_ helping!" Queen argued, starting to lose her cool.

"Hey guys, we have a problem." Panther said, however Joker and Queen ignored her too.

"I'm trying to do what's best for the team! He's just trying to have a power trip!" Akira said.

"No, a power trip is what _you_ were having! When Noir suggested we split up you shot her down immediately saying you could lead just fine, however King was completely willing to go along with her plan -which is actually a good one- just because he reminds you of AKECHI!" Queen shouted the last word.

All the fight just wooshed out of Joker, and his shoulder's slumped. "He doesn't remind me of Akechi…" He protested weakly.

"Yes he does." Queen said, her voice much softer now. "He reminds us all with the way he acts right now, and that's a bitter pill to swallow, I can only imagine it's even harder because like you and Akechi, he's a wild card. I mean for god's sake Joker. I know you heard him yell 'this is what separates us' during the fight with his shadow, that's pretty much word for word what he used to say when he fought with us."

Before Joker could respond, Mona interrupted. "I hate to break up this lover's spat but we've got a damn problem here guys!"

Joker and Queen finally registered their friends' words, and when they looked their eye's widened.

Standing in front of them, injured. Very injured. But somehow. Alive.

Was Akechi.

 **A/N: Holy fuck I'm actually a bit Nervous about the last part of this chapter, only because I had an internal debate on whether my balls were titanium enough to do this. But Akechi was actually one of my favorite character's in Persona 5 even after he went batshit on everyone. I just love how realistic he is. (IN MY OPINON)**

 **Also, aside from the last part of the chapter it's very filler. Three reasons:**

 **1: I am kind of sick right now and as a result am feeling lazy**

 **2: I have exams next week and am stressed about them, affecting my writing a little.**

 **3: I was working through writer's block this chapter and admit it's kind of crap. I was confused on how to continue it.**

 **However regardless of this chapter. If you like it somehow drop me a review on what you think! I am admittedly taking a big risk here. And I want to know what you guys think. See ya next time.**

 **Oh yea before I forget!**

 **Gleamfang: Be arrogant my reviewing friend! Cause you're the one who gave me the idea to have the characters ask the questions your probably thinking! And yes! Lucas is very different with his Persona, I hope this chapter sort of clarifies the situation? Idk how to describe this properly lol. And I actually also liked the idea of Lucas not having a mask because he's different, however it's a bit to late to change it now.**

 **Serpent1234: Thank you for your review! They always put smiles on my face as do Gleamfang, with how supportive you are and with how Gleamfang analyzes its making me want to write more for you to read!**

 **Thanks to both of you, peace out fellas!**


	8. Chapter 7 and a half

Akira honestly couldn't believe it, he even took off his mask and rubbed his eyes, but Akechi was still there.

Alive.

Akechi was alive.

"How… I cant believe your alive. Y-you _shouldn't_ be alive right now." Queen said to Akechi.

Akechi managed a weak laugh but winced due to his injuries. "It's a very, very long story Niijima-san. Your right… I shouldn't be alive." Akechi looked to Joker.

"Joker… Leader. It's… good to see you again." He said, reaching his hand out, suddenly he gasped in pain, his legs buckled as he started to fall.

Joker was there to catch him instantly. "What the hell happened to you?" Joker managed to say. He wasn't just referring to his current injuries. Akechi knew that.

"I'll tell you everything." Akechi gasped, coughing a little. "Is there any way you can heal me at all? Robin hood doesn't have any healing spells."

"I can do it." Mona said. "Garu, use dia." A cool wind washed over Akechi sealing any cuts and bruises, and any internal injuries he may have had.

Akechi sighed in clear relief, and took a deep breath, seeming to savor every one as if sacred.

 _He's supposed to be dead. I'm not surprised he's acting like this. I would be to if I was supposed to die two years ago._ Joker thought.

"You've been healed, now start explaining." Panther said, the coldness in her tone shocking.

"So cold… though I have no right to say that, with what I did to all of you two years ago. Okay, here's what _really_ happened to me two years ago." Akechi took a deep breath, and started to explain.

"Two years ago, after I killed my cognitive self, and him… almost me. I lay there dying, I was supposed to die. I honestly sometimes still cant believe I'm still alive. It's a better fate than I deserve…" He said in self-loathing, but then shook his head, a determined look coming to his face.

"As I lay there dying." He repeated. "The true master mind behind _everything_ came to me, higher than Shido, higher than that rouge god you all defeated, this person here. Christopher Takumi? Is part of that. However he's just a pawn. Just like everyone the Phantom Thieves took down. Just like me. He gave me a choice. To die… Or lose my wild card ability. Simple on paper yes… but the wild card gave me everything I had, every little thing that was good. It gave to me. It was… horrible to let that go."

"Who is this person? Who talked to you?" Queen asked, Akechi laughed, a cold and broken sound.

"Not who… _what._ What came to me, is the true personification of a demon. What people in the same group as Christopher are trying to do is awaken the full power of the thing that came to me."

"What is this guy?" Joker asked.

Akechi looked at him, and for the first time Joker saw _fear_ in Akechi's eyes. " _Her_ name… was Nyx. And what Christopher's group is trying to do is break the seal… and free her from it to destroy the entire world… to cast them into infinite despair. Don't you see? Joker? Everything that's' been accomplished has just been neutralized. All part of a much bigger game."

A chill went down Joker's spine. _This is bad… This is so much worse than we thought, can we really do this?_

"How did you find the metaverse again when it was destroyed?" Joker asked, and Akechi sent a small, surprisingly genuine smile.

"The App… came back to my phone suddenly, after two years. Then I saw you… back in Tokyo, so I followed you and eventually I was able to get the key words to enter Christopher's heart. I stuck to the shadows' I've become rather good at that." Akechi explained.

Frustration built in Panther's chest. "Then why the hell didn't you search us out immediately?!" She yelled suddenly.

Akechi stared at her nervous. "I… I tried to go off on my own I'll admit, but I got my ass kicked… I shouldn't have. I'm sorry." He said.

"It doesn't matter now." Mona suddenly said. "What matter's now is that your alive. And were here now, your friends."

Akechi's eyes widened even more. "F-friends? You… after everything, you all consider me a friend?" He asked in disbelief.

Joker grinned despite everything. "You idiot, we always considered you our friend. I wouldn't have made that promise to you otherwise, you know, the one to defeat your father?"

Akechi stared at Joker in disbelief, utterly unable to say anything. Joker rolled his eyes and held his hand out to his former wildcard. "Get up, _crow_." He said.

Crow finally smiled, and took his leader's hand.

 **A/N: Yea I tried guys, I really did lol, but I'm just too sick to write a chapter right now. As a result this chapter is shorter than the fucking first one lol.**

 **Sorry, I promise one of my normal length when I'm better. As of right now here's what I could manage to do.**


	9. Chapter 9

Joker tried. He really did, he tried to be truly happy at Crow's return. But he just… _couldn't._ He didn't hate Crow at all, he just couldn't bring himself to be happy about it, Joker didn't know the reason himself.

His other friends had quickly warmed up to Crow being alive, their nostalgia and happiness shining bright.

However Joker… felt darkness in his heart, that darkness grew more when he thought of King, who was so similar in action to Crow _and_ Joker. He didn't even hate King. But something about the both of them frustrated Joker.

 _Maybe Queen was right… maybe I am jealous._ Joker thought as he watched Crow laughing with the group, his chest pinching. He ignored this feeling with all his might.

Once again though, his thought's slipped to King. Their new team member, the volatile teenager was too emotional, to arrogant. He knew the signs of depression, and he knew that's what King was going through, when your depressed your either gloomy or arrogant, or both in some cases, this is only worse by the fact that King's Persona was the Grim Reaper, who was a king of the underworld, and the fact that the Persona changes the personality of it's user.

It pissed Joker off nonetheless, but that was also the same reason he couldn't hate King, despite his bravado… He's hurting inside. Joker internally sighed and shook his head, if Queen could hear his thoughts she would call him a hypocrite, taking his own contradicting emotions out on King was wrong. He knew that.

But it _still_ pissed him off!

"Joker? I do not mean to interrupt your thoughts, but shouldn't we keep moving. It seems like the other's have gone ahead, including our own group." Crow asked.

Joker suddenly realized they were both alone, and his eyes widened as an idea popped into his head.

"Crow." Joker said.

"Yes Joker?" Crow asked, head cocked to the side slightly. Joker looked straight at Crow, no, _past_ him and looked at Akechi.

Joker wanted to say something different. Completely different.

"I hope you don't betray us again." Was all Joker said, and brushed past him.

"I wont… I promise." Akechi mumbled, understanding yet hating the animosity coming from Joker, Akechi then put his hand on his head stemming off a headache, and followed after his leader.

 **LINE BREAK KING.**

"King, watch out!" Skull yelled pointing up, King didn't even bother looking up, he just dove out of the way, a loud blast and the gravel cracking behind him, along with the smell of smoke told him he narrowly avoided getting blasted to pieces.

"Holy Shit." King breathed. "This place is getting even more dangerous."

"Tell me about it dude." Skull said sticking a hand out to help King up, he took it.

"We are fighting a lot more than normal too. How many shadow's is that by now?" Yusuke asked.

"I'd say twelve to fifteen by now, it's great stress relief." Noir stated, a satisfied smile coming to her face.

King was quickly realizing Noir may be a closet sadist.

Suddenly the ground started shaking in rapid succession. "Another earthquake?" Yusuke yelled.

A chill went down King's spine, and before he knew what he was doing his wrenched his hand up to his mask. "Persona!" He yelled out, Grim Reaper manifesting just in time to block a massive boulder being hurled at them.

The boulder still hit Grim Reaper hard, knocking him back, and King screamed in pain as he collapsed, coughing and gasping.

 _Holy crap that hurt so bad._ His pain filled mind registered.

"King get up, Goemon! Sukukaja!" Fox yelled, casting a veil of green over King.

The pain didn't diminish, but he suddenly found that he felt lighter and more nimble than before, it was enough to make King stand up and jump back joining his teammates as he got his first look at the shadow.

This shadow was clearly stronger than the others before it, it had the body of an angel, but it's head was resembling an owl, it was carrying a great sword and beside it was a massive black wolf.

"What is that!?" King asked.

"That's an Andras, but it's different from the others!" Noir said.

"You will move forward no more, as your life will end here and fade into the fires of hell!" Andras said, swinging it's blade for emphasis.

"Fires of hell?" King echoed, then slowly started laughing. "You FOOL! I am part of hell itself! Taste the wrath of a king!"

King felt something new stirring from his Persona, and suddenly he new another skill! "Grim Reaper! Giant slice!" He yelled out, his Persona arcing a massive slash hitting Andras.

Andras only looked mildly annoyed by it. "Pathetic, that's all a 'kings' got? I'll show you true strength! Bufu!" He yelled out.

Ice suddenly encased King's entire body, and before he knew it the ice exploded outwards, ice shards slicing his skin, it hurt like hell but to King's credit he didn't pass out.

"You'll pay for that! Milady attack with Psio!" Noir commanded, her Persona manifesting and attacking with a pink spiral, hitting Andras.

"I'll follow up on that!" Fox yelled, already charging Andras, He pulled out his katana while running and jumped, spinning rapidly in the air.

"I'll slice you to pieces!" Fox said, two slashes from fox almost to fast for the eye to see.

 _Now_ Andras looked in pain, the owl creature glared in rage at his four foes. "You will regret that! Black wolf, attack!" He commanded, his wolf lunging for King.

"Why the hell are you targeting me?!" He yelled out, dodging the wolf's attack, suddenly he slammed the point of his scythe in the ground, using the momentum to spin, unlodging the scythe from the ground King swung his weapon, hitting the wolf hard enough to fling it back at the owl, the owl floated over the wolf and at neck breaking speed flew towards' Skull, swinging his great sword down with surprising speed.

Skull couldn't dodge, the attack slamming him so far into the ground it cracked it and knocked him out, but Andras wasn't done yet, next he brought the great sword in a wide arc, hitting Noir knocking her down.

"Shit! Noir! Ryuji!" King said and glared at Andras, who calmly floated back to his wolf, a smug look on his face.

"We have no healer, I don't think we can defeat this thing." Fox said, a nervousness to his voice.

A blue ethereal glow started forming around Andras, Andras closed his eyes taking it in, and when he opened them, he held out his hand palm forward.

"This is the end, now die!" Andras yelled, a massive beam similar to Shadow Lucas' attack heading straight at King.

King couldn't react in time, but Fox could. "Watch out!" He yelled and jumped in the way, taking the blast.

"U-ugh…" Fox said and fell to his knees. King was beside him in a second.

"Why!? Why would you do that!?" King demanded, Fox held up his hand and King gripped it in a vice grip.

"Because… we brought you… here… when you… didn't want… anything to do with any of this…" Fox said weakly, fighting to stay conscious.

"That's not an excuse…" King said softly. Fox managed a weak smile, and promptly passed out.

Kings eye's widened. "No, NO! Wake up Fox!" He cried, shaking his teammate to no avail.

"That was surprising." Andras admitted, "But it doesn't matter now. You will die here.

"…Shut up." King said and stood up. "No… I wont die here, _none_ of us will die here!"

"I will end this! I swear to my bones!" King screamed to the sky.

Pain exploded in King's mind, his eyes glowing a fiery golden, he fell to his knees in agony.

" **How sad your situation, it's pathetic! I walked through hell for the one I loved! And you cant even defeat a simple demon?!"** A voice said in his mind, a _new_ voice.

"W-who are you! Ugh!" King managed to say through the pain.

" **I am a musician! The music of the fates decree I come to you, wild card. And I find you like this? Stand up and fight you fool! If I walk through hell for my wife, what will you do for your friends?!" The voice said.**

"Agh! AGHHHH, I WILL FIGHT, I WILL SAVE THEM!" King screamed.

" **Good, you have sworn to your bones, now vow to me, I am thou, thou art I, and from hence forth will you use MY music to see the future, make them suffer with it, so you can walk the path of victory till the end!"**

"Yesss…" Hissed King, grinning as he stood up, however no mask appeared on his face, he still put his hand's to his eyes, "Haaaahh… COME TO ME, ORPHEUS!"

Fire exploded around King, Not black or blue, but a shocking white color, the same fire shrouded King and materialized into a figure behind him.

The figure had an entirely mechanical body, only his head untouched, a full head of pure white hair, a lyre held in his hands.

King emerged from the flame, memories of… _someone_ with blue hair flowing through him, too fast for King to decipher, He looked up at Orpheus and _knew_ somehow, that this was the Persona of the seal.

"Right now that doesn't matter." Lucas mumbled, he looked towards Andras, who looked startled but not scared.

"Orpheus, Get ready!" Lucas commanded.

Andras readied his great sword. Lucas brandishing a _new_ weapon, a black straight sword with a diamond encrusted hilt.

And the fight was on.

 **A/N: I have taken some medicine to help alleviate some of whatever is making me feel sick, allowing me to write a little, but there gonna be shorter chapters till I get fully better, I probably should relax, but I just cant help but want to write more and more.**

 **GleamFang: Loved your reaction to chapter seven, and seven and a half Hopefully this chapter will quell your concerns about the latter. Also, your right lol, it was supposed to be Zorro, not Garu but I was so sick I didn't even realize it. Thanks for your reviews and the ideas I spawn from them.**

 **Serpent1234: Thanks for your constant support man! I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as the last ones!**

 **I hope this chapter makes you go as crazy as the last ones!**


	10. Chapter 10

King lunged across the battlefield at near super speed, Andras barely having time to block his attack, King knew he couldn't out power Andras so instead he jumped back.

"Orpheus! Focus!" King commanded, a red spiral floating through King's body, Andras and his black wolf charged, and King jumped out the way.

"Persona change! Grim Reaper!" King commanded again in the air, once he landed he put his hand to his mask, "Grim Reaper, use Agilo!"

The attack that came out felt and looked different, a bigger explosion of fire, one that heavily damaged Andras and knocked him down, King quickly switched back to Orpheus and felt something knew rise up from his Persona.

"Orpheus, use Tarunda!" He commanded, and noticed that skill seemed to make Andras weaker, as he was suddenly having a bit of trouble holding up that big sword.

King grinned. A bit of smugness leaking into his personality. "Not so tough now huh?" King chided, then charged, Andras tried to block King's sword but was still too weak to raise his and because of that the sword cut through Andras' body, blood splattering.

Andras was dead, but his wolf wasn't, and looked _pissed._ It howled in rage, a howl loud enough King was sure it could probably be heard at the top of the mountain.

Suddenly the wolf grew in size and kept growing until it was the size of a bus and glared down at King in contempt. King wanted to believe that the whimper was not from him.

The wolf slammed it's head into King and sent him flying, smashing him into the side of a building, pain exploding through his body as he saw stars.

When he regained his senses he noticed the now massive wolf holding the great sword in it's mouth and charging, King, letting a curse out scrambled to his feet yanking his hand to his mask.

"Persona!" He yelled, and Grim Reaper came up in front of him to block the swing from the wolf, with less than impressive results as the wolf powered right through Grim Reaper and straight into King though he was lucky enough to unbalance the wolf, so instead of the sharp part of the blade the flat part of it hit instead, once again sending King across the battlefield.

King hit the ground with a hard thud, and for a moment he couldn't move due to the pain, he suddenly wanted to give up, give up and just let himself die. Yet he didn't understand why.

Why, if he felt like this, was he-against all cohesive thought- standing up again?

He had an idea, though he was to stubborn to admit it, he felt something completely new rise up inside him, not a skill. No, something else.

Something he somehow new how to do, one final time he put his hand to his mask, watching through his fingers the wolf once again charging.

"Manifest, Persona's!" King commanded, and nearly collapsed as Orpheus _and_ Grim Reaper came out at the same time, stopping the wolf in it's tracks, suddenly wary of it's predicament.

King was tired, so tired he could barely see, barely stand. He wanted to go to sleep and not wake up for six months. But if he did that… Shiho would die. So he ignored these feelings. And called out one more time.

"Orpheus, Grim Reaper… Agidyne!" He yelled, his Personae lifting their hands in unison. The wolf howled again and lunged, but a burst of fire that leveled the ground in front of them hit the wolf, howling in pain as it dropped the great sword and flew back.

King barely had time to sigh in relief as he passed out, and barely registered someone wearing a tengu masked catching him as he fell.

 **LINE BREAK Akira**

"Damn, I'm already tired of this fighting. I'm really rusty." Joker complained as he moved along, finishing off another shadow as Crow used Robin Hood to blast another.

"Tell me about it, I was basically made from stuff like this and I'm still tired out already." Mona sympathized, sending a cat smile Joker's way.

"Once we get used to this again it'll be smooth sailing though." Panther said.

"I wonder how the other group is doing?" Queen wondered.

"If there anything like I remember then they should be fine yes, plus your new addition." Crow said.

" _Our_ addition, your part of the team now too after all, for better or worse." Mona said, a gentle smile on his face.

Crow smiled sadly, "I'm afraid it's not that easy, I'm still half expecting Oracle to snuff me out when I'm not paying attention and am almost certain Noir will try to kill me the second she sees me, Queen's already punched me, you've already bit me and Panther's already bopped me in the head."

"It was only out of concern or your total wellbeing." Oracle said, a dangerous smile on her face.

"I was unaware that was a new way of showing concern." Crow responded dryly earning a chuckle from the group.

Suddenly, the group heard a howl so loud it seemed to resonate throughout their entire bodies, only Joker and Crow seemed to stay calm.

"W-what the hell was that!" Panther asked, panic in her voice.

"It would seem the other group has found themselves in a fight, and from the sound of it it's one hell of a shadow." Crow said.

"We have to help them!" Joker said and pointed in the direction of the howl "Let's move quickly!"

Before they could get anywhere however they were suddenly found themselves surrounded by more shadows, which quickly changed into their true forms, three Bicorns, and three Mandrakes.

"Damnit we don't have time for this!" Queen said and looked towards Crow and Joker. "You two go on ahead, we can handle these guys!"

"Hell no! I'm not leaving you guys!" Joker protested.

"I don't think it'd be tactical to split the group up even more." Crow said calmly.

"Look damnit!" Queen exploded. "They could die out there if that shadow is a strong as it sounds, they only have four people one of them is an amateur. We're the veterans here- we can handle this!"

Joker still wanted to protest, but the glare his girlfriend sent him made him nod reluctantly. He turned to the former wild card. "C'mon, we need to move quickly."

"Right." Crow said, following his leader as he took off through the underbrush, after a few minutes they came out to an area with surprisingly little foliage. It looked like the highway, and by the green sign hanging over the street it was.

Joker's knees got shaky as he saw all his friends unconscious along with a dead Andras.

"That's strange, don't shadows usually disappear when killed?" Crow questioned.

Joker was in sensory overdrive and didn't really register what Crow was saying, he watched in frustrated awe as King took on the shadow by himself, Joker noticed that King had somehow gotten himself a new weapon and different Persona.

"So that's the new wild card user? He does fight like a total amateur." Crow said, which Joker still didn't really hear, just watched as Lucas was flung across the highway street, slowly getting to his feet.

"C'mon, he's gonna lose if we don't help him." Crow said, running forward to aid King, Joker shaking out of his daze followed after Crow to help.

He never got the chance, neither of them did. Because suddenly, King somehow manifested _both_ of his Persona's at the same time, and he got his second look at Grim Reaper, the manifestation of King's will.

"Orpheus, Grim Reaper, Agidyne!" King yelled out voice cracking as his Personae let out a _massive_ blast of fire, sending the shadow flying.

King's leg's buckled, but Crow was already catching him and gently lowering him to the ground, Joker was worried he was dead, but was relieved to find him just unconscious.

"I know you saw that, he just used two Personae at the same time. He's a very different wild card than you are, or what I was." Crow said, admiration clear in his voice. _Not_ jealousy Joker noticed.

"Yea, he in himself is a total anomaly." Joker agreed.

Joker's ears twitched as he heard a whimpering sound, and was mildly shocked to find the black wolf still alive, struggling to walk as it limped over to the dead Andras, sitting down beside it and rubbed its nose against the Andras' face, crying over it's dead master.

Sadness pinged in Joker's chest, and was unaware of the sad look on Crow's face. "It's still alive it seems, poor being, I doubt it really has any will to fight now." Crow said, sympathy in his face.

"Shadows… Have emotions too, but I've never seen one grieve before." Joker said, Crow hummed in thought.

"Do you think… they're evolving somehow?" Crow questioned, but not to anybody in particular, then shook his head. "It's best not to think about that, makes it harder for us to do what we have too, we should wake up the other's and get them out of here, I mean hey, we're already at the bottom of the mountain after all."

Joker was mildly shocked to realize Crow was right, somehow, despite their condition King's group had made it to the bottom of the mountain first. Joker didn't realize until now that he was treating it like a competition, as the twinge of defeat rang in his chest.

"Guys!" A voice called out for them, they both turned as the rest of _their_ group came running up, only minor cuts and bruises on them.

"Woah! What the hell happened here? And why is that shadow not fighting you guys? And why are our friends unconscious?" Panther asked.

Crow and Joker looked at each other and sighed in unison. Then they explained what they saw as the group woke up the clocked out ones. Who which utterly freaked out when they saw Crow alive which caused more explaining.

It was a very stressful twenty minutes for group B.

"Woah! King can use multiple Personae at the same time? That's wicked." Skull said, rubbing at his head where it was hurt.

"It seems like there's something interesting with every wild card, one's a great leader, one can use two Personae at the same time, and the other one is a psychopathic murderer that deserves to be locked up." Noir said the last part with a murderous glare at Crow.

Crow looked away and said nothing, though his shoulders did sag a bit. He wasn't surprised at all, in fact he was expecting worse, but that doesn't mean he had to like it.

"A-anyway." Queen began. "It seems like the shadow version of Christopher knows more than he lets on, including the real one."

"Yes, but we have no way of knowing exactly what they know though." Fox said.

"Leave that to me." Oracle said and everyone looked at her.

"I can hack into his phone, look at his texts, his call history. Etc. It seems you all still underestimate me." She said with a smug smile on her face.

"I can provide assistance if need be." Crow said, but Oracle was already shaking her head.

"No, no. You wouldn't be much help pretty boy. Your more of a detective than a hacker. I can do it on my own. In the meantime." Futaba said as she looked at the still unconscious King. "We're gonna have to find a place for him to stay. I don't know if you guys-or even him- have thought about it, but once we change this creeps heart where is he gonna go?"

Everyone went silent at that save for Crow who was looking at everybody confused. Joker came to the disturbing conclusion that no one had really thought about that.

"Cross that bridge later. We have to get out of here, next time we come here we start the climb up the mountain." Joker said earning nods from everybody. "Alright, let's go."

 **LINE BREAK Lucas?**

" _Lucas? Lucas!" A beautiful women that wasn't unlike Lucas with her looks called. She had been looking for him around the neighborhood for almost thirty minutes._

 _Eventually she found him by the abandoned train tracks with other neighborhood children. The women smiled softly as she watched them playing, her son being the leader of one team, and his best friend Alice on the other, her dyed blue hair swaying in the wind._

 _Eventually Lucas noticed her. "Mommy? What are you doing here you should be in bed." The bouncy seven-year-old said sternly, running into his mother's arms. His mother had always been sickly, nearly dying during childbirth it wasn't until years later though they found it was cancer._

 _She laughed with joy and smiled as Alice came up to the both of them, a teasing smirk on her face. "Mommy's boy." She said and laughed as Lucas blushed a bright red._

" _Hey now! That's no way to treat your leader!" Lucas protested still blushing, Alice rolling her eyes, Lucas' mother suppressing a smile. Some girls when they liked a guy would tease and bully them, and she had been around long enough to notice a girl crush when she sees them._

" _Now, now." Lucas' mother chided gently. Then looked at her pride and joy. "Your fathers coming home today, I've been looking for you! Come along little leader."_

" _Daddy's coming home? Awesome!" Lucas said excitedly, waving bye and following his mother._

 _The memory shifted, and suddenly an older Lucas, about thirteen, was hiding behind the wall listening to his parents argue, it had been happening a lot recently, and they were growing more and more._

" _Rebecca I don't want you to worry about me when you should be taking care of yourself!" His father yelled._

" _I cant worry about myself Michael, there's so many bills to pay since you were discharged from the army, and now your working at a desk job while I'm doing nothing!" His mother yelled right back._

" _You have_ _ **cancer**_ _Rebecca! I don't want you straining yourself anymore than you have to, especially since you also have to deal with the kid!"_

" _The 'kid' has a name and is our_ _ **son**_ _Michael, and Lucas is very independent, he's like you in many ways!"_

" _He's nothing like me, he's weak and pathetic, those leader qualities he showed years ago are long gone and now he's just wasting space." His father snapped._

 _Lucas could almost_ _ **hear**_ _his mothers shoulders sag. "Y-you don't mean that." She said weakly._

 _He heard a sigh that could have only come from his father. "I don't… I'm so sorry Rebecca, I love you and Lucas… I'm just so stressed right now. I need a drink." Lucas heard footsteps but before he could move his father appeared in front of him._

 _Michael looked like a deer in the headlights. "Lucas?" He reached out for his son, Lucas recoiling like he'd been poisoned, running up the stairs, ignoring his father calling out for him._

 _He put his hand on the door to his room, but the memory shifted again. Not his mother and his father, but him and his best friend Alice, sitting on the railings of an old bridge. Both seventeen years old._

" _Those cuts… where did you get them." Lucas stated, looking at the marks on her wrists. It wasn't a question._

" _You already know." Alice said looking away, her now natural brown hair swaying, Lucas sighed._

" _Why." Lucas said, once again It wasn't a question, he could think of many reasons, her father hitting her, her mother's drugs, her father trying to rape his own daughter. The only solace being the fact that Lucas nearly killed Alice's father, but instead had him locked up forever._

 _But her mothers drug problems and the scars of the past were still present in her mind. Lucas knew that, and he thought he had it bad at times, with his mothers cancer and fathers increasing mood swings at least he still clearly loved the both of them, Alice didn't have that._

" _You already know why." Alice said, looking but not really looking at him, it broke Lucas' heart._

" _I'm moving soon, I don't know where." Alice suddenly said looking straight ahead., Lucas' eyes widened, and his mouth went dry._

" _W-when?" Lucas asked, and Alice did look at him this time, a small smirk on her face, a smirk that reminded him of the old Alice._

 _His Alice._

" _What? Gonna come give me a goodbye kiss?" she teased, not realizing Lucas was steeling his nerves._

" _No." He said getting up and moving close to her. "I'm gonna do that right now." He said and took her lips with his own, Alice stiffened in shock for a brief moment before wrapping her arms around his neck, burying her hands in his hair absorbing herself into the kiss._

 _When he pulled away they were both flushed and breathing slightly harder than normal._

" _I don't know if I love you." Alice said, and Lucas snorted._

" _I don't know if I love you either." He said smirking, and to his surprise Alice laughed, albeit a partially hollow sound._

" _Wow." She breathed still laughing a little. "Are we this broken, that we can make out and not love each other?"_

" _Desperate to feel something I suppose." Lucas said, smiling and pulled away completely from her sitting back down on the railing, Alice was mildly surprised how cold it felt without him even though it was the middle of summer. "Maybe we've been broken for a long time."_

" _Who know's?" Alice pondered, looking up at the blue sky before turning to him. "I do know I am gonna miss you though."_

" _We've been friends for years, I'd be a bit insulted if you didn't." Lucas quipped smiling._

" _I don't think 'friends' have sex and kiss each other." Alice pointed out._

" _Not the point I'm trying to make." Lucas rolled his eyes. "And we haven't had sex in a long time, not that I'm counting."_

" _Hey, no matter what you can't say I don't have good p-"_

" _ENOUGH." Lucas said, voice a bit higher pitched making Alice pitch into giggles, eventually the laughter died down and they sat in silence for a while, listening to the sounds of nature._

" _It's going to be dark soon, we should probably head back." Lucas said, the sun slowly slipping behind the trees._

" _Right… This is probably the last time we'll see each other." Alice noted._

" _Probably." Lucas said, looking at his best friend._

" _I'd say I love you, but that'd sound wrong." Alice said and Lucas rolled his eyes and smirked at her._

" _Whatever. I'm gonna head back later. My father wont be home till later." Lucas said, turning back out to watch the horizon. The country area's of Ohio not to far from it's capital._

" _Yea, yea. See you Lucas." Alice said and started walking, and as Lucas watched her walk, he knew that would be the last time he'd see her._

 _The memory shifted again, this one_ _ **very**_ _recent, right before he came to Tokyo, right after his mother's death. Two days after. He was walking home, as mechanized as everything else for the last two days had been._

 _He numbly walked up to his own home, a simple home not unlike the one's those 1800's factory workers had, but a bit bigger. He had a bad feeling, though since his mother's passing he always had those._

 _When he waked into his house and saw his father, hanging from the ceiling, veins popping from his forehead and face blued, eyes bulging. It took him almost thirty seconds to react._

" _Oh." He said, staring at his father's corpse._

" _Oh!" He said, staring at his father's corpse._

" _OH GOD NO!" He said, staring at his father's_ _ **Fucking**_ _corpse._

 _Lucas sprinted out of the house screaming bloody murder for help, quickly other residents came out, and Lucas barreled into one sobbing, incoherent, and old woman by the name of Mrs. Harris._

 _He didn't hear Mr. Harris running inside the house._

 _He didn't hear the shocked screams._

 _He didn't hear the attempts to calm the sobbing eighteen-year-old._

 _He didn't hear the sirens._

 _He didn't hear his name being called as he started running._

 _He didn't even hear his own sobs, though he felt them._

 _He didn't anything._

 _He just didn't._

Lucas woke up with a gasp, and for a moment wondered where he was, a big room clearly, but not his room, he was in a cold sweat and was shaking made worse by the fact that he was alone in the room.

He staggered out of the bed feeling drained, and slowly trudged over to the steps leading downstairs, mildly shocked when he saw that he was in Leblanc.

And that the rest of the Phantom thieves were downstairs, minus Shiho, but plus one person he didn't know, staring at him in concern.

Akira stood up. "Your awake." He said, relief in his voice.

Lucas nodded. "I'm awake."

"Are you okay?" He asked, confusing Lucas.

"Uh… Yea? I feel fine if not a little tired." He said.

The rest of the phantom thieves looked at each other with pinched faces confusing Lucas even more.

"W-what's going on here? Why are you all acting like that?" He asked, slightly worried himself now.

More looking, and more silence until Lucas couldn't take it anymore. "What the hell's wrong?" He demanded.

Makoto stood up and walked over to him and took a deep breath.

"Lucas?" Makoto asked.

"Yes?"

"Who's Alice?" She asked.

Lucas' eyes widened, and his mouth went dry.

 _Oh shit._

 **A/N: Boom! Back at it again with another chapter. I have recovered from being sick and am ready to pump out this chapter, had a lot of fun writing this one and loved to delve into Lucas' past a little.**

 **I hope you all don't hate me too much for how I portrayed Lucas in his dream memories. But for some reason writing him like that felt right too me.**

 **Gleamfang: Thanks for the encouragement to get better, totally what helped me a lot lol. I hope this tells you how Lucas is a different wildcard, with the two personae and the dream memories sequence. And yes, Akechi is gonna be one of the mainer characters of the story and I show this bipolarism because I want to make it known while they are happy to see him and have him back. It's not completely okay and they are conflicted on how to feel.**

 **Serpent1234: Dude, please don't be sorry I love the fact that you are so enthusiastic about this story. It makes me smile for real, and even while sick I was writing this story because I WANTED to, not because I felt obligated.**

 **That's all guys! Enjoy this chapter, I'm feeling this story hard right now.**


	11. Chapter 11

The second Makoto asked that question all expression left Lucas' face and let behind was a mask, one that produced no answer to the question she asked to him. She was shocked at the reaction, it was like all emotion left his body at the sound of her name.

"Is that any of your business Niijima-san?" Lucas asked, he only used honorifics when he was hiding his feelings, something he was doing right now, on the outside he was indifferent, but on the inside, he was an emotional wildfire.

"N-no, we were just curious, and concerned since you were calling out for her." Makoto said hesitantly not wanting to set him off.

Lucas kept giving her that dead stare and shook his head. "Well, don't be curious and don't be concerned, its nothing you need to worry about and I have no reason I should tell you anything." He said sternly and moved to sit at the counter before his legs buckled.

Lucas looked at Akechi with a curious eye, not knowing who he was. "So, who's the new guy?" He asked with a switch of his gaze to Akira.

Akira shifted slightly in his seat before speaking. "That's Akechi… a friend and fellow Persona user."

"But he's not a part of the Phantom Thieves like you guys, so similar to me." Lucas looked towards Akechi again who in turn fixed him with a level stare. "Lucas."

Akechi nodded. "Goro Akechi, just call me Akechi, I like it better than my given name."

"Alright, I'd give you my last name too, but I discarded my family name when my family died." Lucas said casually, shocking his fellow Persona users on how casually he said that.

"But… your uncle is living." Ann said.

"His last name is different now, it was mine but he changed it to Takumi, and besides, my uncle is a serial killer." Lucas responded and moved to Leblanc's door. "Man, it's dark as hell out. What is it the middle of the night?"

"11:24 actually." Yusuke said.

Lucas sighed. "My uncles is not gonna be happy I'm getting home so late on a school night."

Ryuji suddenly exploded. "Alright already!" He shouted startling everybody, they turned to look at him in confusion as he continued on. "Dude, how can you act so calm about this? You can use two Personae at once, your uncle is a serial killer that imagines you as his apprentice in the future and you only care about school?!"

"That's not actually the most interesting thing that happens to be about me." Lucas said, and explained the things that Igor told him, how he is a special wild card, how he's supposed to break the seal, and how he thinks he knows who it is due to him somehow invoking Orpheus, the seals old Persona.

The room went dead silent after that, and Akechi was ghostly white. Lucas looked straight at Akechi. "You know something." He said getting Akechi's attention.

Akechi swallowed. "I do indeed." He said and retold all of what he knew, Lucas sat down and put his head in his lap.

"So Christopher is part of some group that wants to destroy the world, and they want to break the seal like me… I don't understand why I need to break the seal then, why not let them do it then take them down?" Lucas wondered.

"Maybe if you break the seal something different will happen?" Haru asked, Lucas thought for a moment longer before shrugging.

"I dunno. But this demon… Nyx, no goddess of death. Reminds me of my own Persona Grim Reaper. But he's a king." Lucas said.

"I'm sorry I couldn't help more." Akechi said mournfully, Lucas gave him a pat on the back.

"Nah, don't be it's cool. You've helped more than enough already." He said.

 _Even if I piece this all together that's still not enough, there's too many holes. I need more information._

"Morgana." Lucas said and the cat perked up. "Any ideas yourself?"

Morgana thought for a moment before something akin to a lightbulb went off in his head. "Perhaps the seal isn't really in Shibuya per say?"

"Huh? I don't understand." Akira said.

"What I mean is I doubt we're the only people in the world who have Persona's. What if this seal is in another place, as a matter of fact…" Morgana trailed off and looked at Futaba. "Maybe Christopher has ideas where the seal is, maybe he even knows where it is."

Futaba smirked. "I'll look that up too while I'm at it, see if I can find anything about this seal."

"Alright, seems were making some ground." Yusuke said then looked at Akira. "Leader, when do we go back in?"

Akira thought for a long moment. "Saturday." He said. "Two days from now."

"What about Shiho?" Lucas asked giving Akira pause. "Shouldn't we save her as fast as possible?"

"I agree with that. But if we rush in blind, tired and unprepared we'll succeed in getting not only her but ourselves killed. We should take time to prepare, this will also help get Christopher off your back a little, because if you keep coming back so late he'll get suspicious." Akira reasoned.

Lucas nodded and smiled shocking the group, from the short time he knew them he seemed to rarely smile. "That's actually a good plan, alright. I'll follow your lead for now." He said, acknowledging Akira.

Makoto sighed with relief, she was concerned Lucas would protest like before, but he seemed to be a lot more reasonable now than in the metaverse.

 _They both got genuine leader qualities._ Makoto thought. _Once Lucas gets more experience I have no problem relying on him, as of right now he's like a lightning bolt._

Akira suddenly stood up and stretched. "I'm gonna go walk around Shibuya, with so much happening all of a sudden I didn't really get a chance to get reacquainted with the area." He said.

"I assume that's the disbandment of this meeting?" Akechi asked, Akira nodded as the Phantom Thieves got up and slowly made their way outside, Akira locking the store up.

Lucas watched Makoto and Akira tentatively holding hands as they walked away with a little amusement. "I gotta get home, I'll be seeing you." Lucas waved Lazily and walked off down the street, ignoring the 'bye's' and 'see you 'laters' he got.

 **Line Break**

"Yo Uncle." Lucas called out using the spare key his uncle gave him to get in. "I'm home, sorry I'm late I…" He trailed off as he realized no one was home.

"Huh, lucky me." Lucas shrugged his shoulders and went up to his room, almost immediately clocking out in his bed.

 **Line Break Lucas dream?**

 _This… darkness, is not natural. Lucas thought, looking around. He knew this wasn't the place he spoke to Igor considering, well, that there was literally nothing around._

 _Just pitch black._

" _It's spreading…" A raspy weakened voice said behind him, Lucas spun around in shock._

 _Suspended in the air arms spread like a crucifixion, a boy with medium length blue hair covering his right eye looked at him pale and sickly, he didn't look like he was supposed to be alive, he looked chained without actually being chained._

 _Something stirred inside Lucas as they looked at each other, and he couldn't help but feel like he should know who this was. But how? He didn't know this person._

" _What's spreading?" Lucas asked, and the boy jerked in his invisible chains in shock and looked at Lucas in a way that made him feel bad._

" _You… can actually hear me?" The boy asked, Lucas was confused by the question._

" _Should… I not be able to?"_

 _The boy let out a hollow laugh. "I… don't know. It has been so long…"_

" _What's spreading?" Lucas asked again._

 _The boy looked him in the eyes in such a way that it seemed like it pierced Lucas through his very soul._

" _The dark hour." He said gravely, and somehow Lucas knew exactly what he was talking about, suddenly the boy started spasming, gasping and crying out in agony._

 _Lucas wanted to help him, but had a feeling he couldn't do anything, he watched with trepidation as the boy stopped spasming, taking a few… well not breaths but moments._

" _It seems that she's growing stronger, I do not know how much longer I can hold her back." The boy said, pain in his eyes._

" _Hold who back? Who are you?" Lucas asked, and once again, the boy gave him that same piercing stare, but in the shadow's of that same boys eyes someone… no,_ _ **something**_ _else was there for a fraction of a second._

" _I'm…" The boy began, but suddenly seized up on his words, like couldn't say them. Like something_ _ **stopped**_ _him from saying them._

 _Lucas' mind whirled, and slowly he started piecing it together. His eyes widened. "Y-your him… the seal. My god your holding back_ _ **her.**_ _" He said._

 _The boy looked at him again with relief. "Yes."_

 _Lucas' questions were rapid fire. "Where are you?! How do I find you?! How do I save you!?"_

 _The boy's smile was sad. "I don't think you can save me. I don't think you can even find me." Suddenly, he seemingly started to fade away._

" _No." Lucas said reaching his hand out. "No not yet! Where are you seal!?" He yelled in desperation._

 _That boy gave him one small, sad smile. No, not him, somehow without him realizing, Orpheus had manifested on his own, and was staring at his old master with sadness and grief so raw it made Lucas choke up._

 _They seemed to speak without actually speaking, such was the bond of the seal and Orpheus and right then Lucas knew that while he had Orpheus, he would never truly be Lucas'._

" _Orpheus…" The boy said and faded out, and Lucas knew no more._

 **Line Break** **Akira**

Akira walked around Shibuya, gathering his thoughts, there were little to no people out which surprised him, after all Shibuya was super busy at night as well as the daytime.

 _Perhaps Christopher's murders have had more influence than I thought._ Akira thought.

He heard a distant rustling sound, but wasn't really worried assuming it was a stray animal, he still looked back though and sure enough, a yellow cat ran out from the ally way around the corner.

Akira chuckled softly and kept walking returning to his thoughts. _Lucas… Needs to break some seal somehow, but Christopher's little group need's to do the same to cast infinite despair on the world, but how is Lucas supposed to do this without casting infinite despair on the world itself? Is it related to his ability to use two persona at once?_

Akira shook his head while that was a unique power, even more so than the wild card itself in ways he didn't think that was it.

Akira's thought's halted as he realized something minorly unsettling, somehow while in his thoughts he had wandered away from the main streets of Shibuya.

Because of this he was utterly alone, no one in sight. Suddenly, another rustling sound sent a chill down Akira's spine and he whirled around to face the noise hoping it was another cat.

He wasn't that lucky. At the end of the street Akira had found himself on (Which wasn't that far away) a man stood there, encroached in shadows hiding all of him, only his silhouette could be seen.

Standing there in a long trench coat and a fedora, in his right hand, held a large carving knife. _Large enough to cut open my heart._ Akira thought. _I cant believe Christopher is actually about to try and kill me._

Akira took a step back, Christopher forward.

Back.

Forward.

Back.

Forward.

 _Bastard wont get the chance_.

Suddenly Akira turned and started sprinting, seconds after heard footsteps behind him, not far off, Akira turned the corner and started running harder, jumping over a fallen trashcan and through another alley way, the whole time the pounding of feet behind him. He jumped another trashcan and pulled out his phone. Intending to call the police.

 _FUCK. It's 11:50_. _The station would be closed at this time, best I can do it find some stray person if im lucky._ Akira thought in a minor panic.

Akira stumbled over a trash bag, losing his phone in the darkness and falling scraping his knees on the pavement.

"Shit!" Akira cursed as he got up and continued running gasping for breath as he moved along footsteps still behind him, acutely aware he left his phone behind somewhere. "That's… what… I… get…"

Akira made a mistake, he came to a fork In the alley way and turned right, leading him right to a dead end, Akira turned around to double back but found himself staring at Christopher, still hidden by his outfit and the shadows.

He started to panic as he realized he was sandwiched with no way out. He was pretty sure he whimpered and was really hoping the smell of pee was from the alley way, not his pants.

"H-hey come on man you don't have to do this." Akira managed out, his mouth tasting like ash.

Christopher took a step closer, Akira couldn't go anywhere. He backed up against the wall and desperately tried to think of a plan.

"Ah crap, I was really hoping I could live long enough to marry Makoto before I died." Akira mumbled, unable to think of a plan.

Christopher took a few steps forward, gripping Akira's shirt with a gentleness that shocked him, and pushed him fully into the wall wetting his shoes and socks in a puddle in the process, Christopher got in close, and stroked the knife across Akira's cheek.

He pushed the knife to Akira's heart just enough to draw blood, and for the first time Christopher spoke.

"I'll make this as quick as possible. It'll hurt though."

Akira closed his eyes, taking his last deep breath.

Except it wasn't, suddenly all the pressure on Akira's chest fell away, the grip on his shirt went slack and he no longer felt Christopher's breath on his face.

He slowly opened his eyes, which widened in shocked confusion, the sky had turned a strange tint, and the moon was blood red, and standing in the place Christopher was supposed to be:

Was a coffin, a red tinted coffin the strange tinted sky making the coffin look even creepier. Akira looked down instinctively and nearly jumped out of his shoes, the water his feet had gotten soaked in had turned to blood, sickening Akira's stomach a bit.

"What the hell is going on here?" Akira wondered aloud, it was like reality had shifted _without using the metaverse_.

Akira slowly walked down the ally way, backtracking in an effort to find his phone, getting lucky it wasn't to far away from where he dropped it, he groaned sadly when he picked it up, having a large crack across the screen, he tried to turn it on but it wouldn't work.

"Damnit man… can this day get any worse?" He said to himself, then looked around at the strange stuff happening. "I really should not have said that with the world the way it is right now.

Akira moved out of the alley way into the street, noticing he was somewhere in between the Shibuya terminal and central street. He looked around and found more coffins, presumably with more people inside.

"What is going _on_ here? I'm not the only one not in a coffin right now right?" Akira wondered aloud.

"Kurusu-san?" A calm voice said behind him, he turned to find Akechi standing there, shock and relief on his face, Akira feeling much the same.

"Akechi-kun thank god. I thought I was the only one not in a coffin." Akira said walking up to the former wild card.

"I share those sentiments, I don't know what happened… Once it hit twelve o clock it was like the entire city… Just changed. I hope the others are well." Akechi said.

Akira looked around and noticed something else. "The power… the entire city is out. Whatever this is Akechi-kun, it's not normal."

"I can tell, this is rather strange." Akechi mused, Akira raised an eyebrow at the composed boy.

"You don't look nervous at all." Akira noted, Akechi looked up and smirked.

"I could say the same about you, god slayer."

Akira laughed. "Perhaps."

Suddenly Akira and Akechi started hearing a slimy slithering sound, instinctively they went back to back and started looking for it.

"What is that?" Akira whispered.

"I don't know, keep your guard up." Akechi whispered back, suddenly dropping form the top of a skyscraper, landing in front of them both.

A pure black monster with several hands carrying large knives, a mask in front of it's body being held up by one of the hands, it made noises that traumatized the human ears.

A shuddering breath was the only way you could tell Akechi was unnerved. "Is that creature a shadow." He said, voice faint.

"Nothing like anything we've ever seen before, our clothes haven't changed, so I don't know if we can fight this thing." Akira said taking a step back.

The shadow lashed out with one of it's knives and Akechi dove out of the way as Akira jumped back, the shadow striking the ground instead cracking it.

"Holy crap, that thing cracked concrete." Akechi said moving back beside Akira.

"Oh yea, we need to run!" Akira said, prompting the both of them to take off.

"This day cant get much worse can it?" Akira said while running. Akechi gave him a look that said 'shut up' before, suddenly making a right, pulling them into an alley.

"Oh great job genius it's a dead end." Akira said sarcastically to Akechi, the shadow appearing at the end of the alley behind them.

Akechi grit his teeth and looked around, then pointed. "There!" He said. "Up the fire escape to the roof." He jumped and grabbed the ladder, grunting as he hauled himself up, and reached back down Akira quickly jumping and grabbing his hand.

The shadow struck just as Akira was pulled up, shattering the wall behind him, they sprinted up the fire escape and to the both of their horrors, the shadow latched onto the wall with it's knives and started climbing.

"FASTER!" Akira yelled as Akechi started sprinting up the stairs Akira right on his tail, the shadow not far behind.

They got to the top of the building and to their horror they found that there was nowhere else to go, they couldn't jump to another building because it was to far, and there was no door to go inside the building, the shadow came up the building the mask contorting into something that resembled a face of amusement.

"The piece of shit is taunting us." Akechi said angrily.

"We're trapped, damnit, if only we could use our persona." Akira said, hand falling from his face.

The shadow struck again, this time with all it's hands, Akira and Akechi dodged some, but were still sliced in various places, Akira fell to the ground his left leg sliced up as well as his right arm.

Akechi wasn't too much better, his torso had gotten hit as well as his face, a long-jagged cut across it.

"Ugh… this is not looking good." Akechi said as the shadow moved closer.

"This is bullshit." Akira growled, trying to stand but the pain in his leg forcing him back down.

A lightbulb seemed to turn on in Akechi's head. "I have an idea." He said, clutching his chest as he moved away from Akira.

To the edge of the building. "HEY! You bastard!" He yelled out, miraculously gaining the shadows attention.

Akechi got into his fighting stance ignoring the screams of pain his chest let out. "Come at me you monster." He taunted, the shadow actually roared, an inhuman sound and rushed at Akechi using it's hands to propel it forward faster.

"What the hell are you doing Akechi!?" Akira said trying to stand up again to no avail.

Akechi took a deep breath. "This is my redemption!" He yelled out and rushed the shadow, at the last second before the shadow struck he slid under it coming out behind the creature.

Putting the _shadow_ on the edge instead of Akechi, with all the strength he had left he slammed into the back of the shadow, or what could be considered the back, the shadow flailing as it careened of the building splattering on the ground presumably killing it.

Akechi fell to his knees breathing hard, throwing a weak smile Akira's way, Akira couldn't help but grin back and sigh in relief.

"Woah, not bad for two people without an evoker." A feminine voice said. Akira and Akechi whipped their heads to the voice in shock.

The girl had fluffy green hair and warm blue eyes, such a contrast with the halberd she was holding Akira wondered if he was hallucinating from pain, she was looking at the both of them with some admiration.

"Who are you?" Akira asked.

"I'm the girl that can actually fight these things normally. Airi Kusunagi is the name." She introduced herself then looked at Akechi. "Hey pretty boy, get back away from the ledge, that thing isn't dead."

As if on cue the shadow Akechi pushed off the building leaped up it, landing with a crack of the ground, it wiggling furiously, Akechi to his credit was able to move quick enough to get behind the new girl.

Airi sighed and stepped forward, pulling a gun out of a holster Akira had failed to notice. Putting it to her head Akira and Akechi's eyes widened. She was going to kill herself!

As if sensing their reactions Airi smirked. "Don't worry pretty boys." She said and glared at the shadow. "Come! Aphrodite!" She yelled and pulled the trigger.

Instead of her brain, blue ice exploded out of the side, her eyes glowed a brighter blue and a _persona_ manifested behind her, scantily dressed her persona was remarkably beautiful.

"A persona?" Akira and Akechi said in unison. Airi looked at them in shock.

"You know what this is? Who are you guys?" She asked then shook her head. "Doesn't matter, it's coming! Stay behind me!"

The shadow screamed that demonic scream. Then charged.

 **A/N: Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! No responding to reviews this time because I cant give anything away by accident, just want to tell you I appreciate yall.**


	12. Chapter 12

Akira and Akechi watched in awe as Airi handled the shadow with practiced ease, jumping and sliding under knives and parrying with her halberd at the same time, making the both of them feel like a bunch of chumps.

With a swing of her Halberd she chopped three hands off at once, the hands hitting the ground wiggling before disappearing in a burst of charcoal smoke. Very quickly the shadow Akira and Akechi had so much trouble with was dispatched and left behind was a girl lightly sweating from the effort.

"Whew, they're getting tougher I think." Airi said to no one, she seemed to remember the boys as she suddenly bounded back up to them.

"So. Spill it, how did you know what Aphrodite was?" She demanded. Akechi and Akira shared a look, the latter a one of resignation, the former a look of suspicion.

"Uh, one sec Kusunagi-san." Akira said and pulled Akechi to the side.

"I don't think we should tell her anything." Akechi said before Akira could speak.

Akira nodded. "I agree, but she did save her life, we owe her something at least, I'm not saying tell her everything, just… how we know what persona's are."

Akechi looked at him in something akin to disbelief. "And how do you propose we do that?"

Akira shrugged. "I'll wing it." He said, Akechi sighed as Akira walked back to Airi who was twirling her halberd and looking at them in anticipation.

"Okay." Akira began. "We know about Persona's because we are Persona users, however this… period is new to us, we use our Persona's somewhere completely different from this place."

Airi looked to consider this for a moment, she gave a resolute nod before smiling. "Alright, it's totally obvious your not telling me everything, but I also don't think your really lying to me." She said, the smile faded. "I should probably give you a bit of information about me as well so you can trust me a little better."

"That would be appreciated." Akechi said, Airi looked at him for a moment longer than necessary before smiling again.

"I'm part of a group called the Kirijo group, a global operating multinational trading company, and putting it bluntly, we're the cause of this phenomena, it's called the dark hour and what I was fighting was a shadow, although I'm assuming you knew that considering you knew what a persona was. We also accidently created a place called Tartarus. We also created these guns here called Evokers which allow us to summon our Persona's easier." She spoke all at once making Akira's head spin.

Akechi seemed to fair a bit better, he casually took the Evoker from Airi's hand. "How strange, we don't need to use this to summon our Persona." He said.

Airi actually looked kind of stunned. "Then why didn't you use it when you were getting destroyed by the shadow? You should be able to unless your Persona usage is locked to that mysterious place you gained yours." She said.

Akechi had the grace to blush a bit at her comment and chose not to respond to the jibe. Akira was about to say something but a sudden beeping sound startled him, he realized the sound was coming from Airi's pocket.

Airi pulled out a phone, took a look at it, paled and answered. "Y-yes, Airi here?" She said, a female voice was heard on the other line and Airi winced.

"I'm sorry but I-"

More yelling and wincing. "I swear me going out on my own was worth it, I'm sorry Kirijo-senpai." Airi apologized. The woman again, much softer in tone.

Airi managed a weak smile. "Understood." She said and hung up, looking back at the boys. "I have to go, sorry I cant explain anymore." She turned and ran off before either of the boys could start to stop her.

Suddenly, the Dark hour ended, the world going back to normal. Akechi sighed and sat down on the roof. "I'm so tired."

Akira sat down beside him. "I feel you, my brain feels so overloaded right now. She said all these crazy things yet we have no idea what the hell she was talking about." He mused.

"Just another thing we have to investigate, we should describe the girl to the other's tomorrow so they can keep a lookout for her." Akechi suggested.

Akira nodded. "Good plan, but for now I'm going home and passing out in my bed."

Akechi laughed a tired laugh. "I second that notion."

Laughing, the two boys got off the building and parted ways, Akira particularly careful to watch out every corner.

 **The Next Day.**

Lucas woke up with a start, fully recalling the details of his dreams. _So that guy is the seal… I have to find him soon, however Shiho takes priority right now._

Lucas yawned and stretched looking at his pillow one last time in eternal longing. "Screw relationships, me and my pillow are getting engaged." Lucas mumbled.

"Talking to yourself already Lucas? That's not healthy you know." Christopher said making Lucas jump out of his skin, the dude freaking appeared out of nowhere!

Lucas had to work to keep his expression calm, instead of the burning desire to beat the hell out of him that he wanted to show. "It's what I do, fight me." Lucas said instead with a smirk.

Christopher just rolled his eyes. "Whatever, your late already anyway today so no breakfast for you, I'm not having you miss the train and be even later."

Lucas mumbled something unpolite under his breath but got dressed and walked downstairs, he went to the kitchen and saw his uncle sitting at the counter holding a bottle of scotch.

Lucas raised an eyebrow. "little early to be hitting the bottle don't you think?" He asked with a smirk.

Christopher sent him the look of death. "Get the hell out and go to _school,_ I had a bad night." He said roughly, then mumbled something under his breath he Lucas couldn't hear.

Lucas shrugged and left the house, making his walk to the train station _alone_ this time. _Hmm, Futaba isn't here to bug me. I could get used to this._ He thought a content smirk on his face.

"What's that smile for?" Lucas' smile left instantly and he groaned at the familiar voice. _That's what I fucking get for jinxing it._ He sent a glare Futaba's way.

"Why, pray tell are you bugging me this early in the morning?" Lucas asked roughly Futaba in response sending him a Cheshire grin.

"When else am I gonna do it?" She asked. "Now let me tell you about this game I was playing that reminds me a lot of your armor in the metaverse…" Lucas had tuned her out and stopped listening, preferring to rely on his thoughts for comfort.

A loud creaking sound snapped Lucas out of his thoughts, he noticed Futaba suddenly looked worried, and not only her, other passengers looked nervous as well.

"Hey, what was that?" He asked Futaba, she only sent him a worried glance in response, suddenly to Lucas' growing horror, the train started getting _faster_ , blazing by so fast Lucas couldn't keep himself mentally grounded.

Some passengers started speaking worried. "What's going on!? Why is the train moving so fast!?"

"Oh god are they happening again!?"

 _Again?_ Lucas thought.

"I DON'T WANNA DIE!?" A child screamed, and Lucas was roughly yanked back into a memory.

" _HELP ME SOMEBODY!" A voice screamed, Lucas, fifteen at the time was walking home from school when this happened, he looked around for the sound of the voice and noticed a boy hanging off the side of a nearby building._

 _This building was a good sixty feet off the ground and at the bottom was solid concrete, a fall that far would probably kill him instantly. Lucas' heart rate picked up and before he could stop himself, he was sprinting over to the building._

" _HANG ON MAN I'M COMING!" Lucas screamed to the guy, he ran inside and sprinted to the elevator, and to his dismay found it didn't work. "Aw come on!" He huffed, sprinting to the stairs and up them._

 _Lucas burst out onto the roof of the building, looking around to find the reason he came up there, he ran over to the guy just as he lost his grip on the building, diving and grabbing him just in time, however the momentum from the dive tipped Lucas over to, and suddenly he was also holding on for dear life to the railing of the building._

" _Oh, oh god no!" The guy blabbed, tears running down his face. Lucas was shocked to realize the_ _ **guy**_ _was in fact a_ _ **kid**_ _that couldn't be older than eleven._

" _I got you just hang on!" Lucas said, desperately trying to pull himself up, he couldn't the kid was holding his hand in a vice and he wasn't strong enough to pull them up with only one arm._

" _Damnit!" He cursed, trying once again to pull himself up, his fingers started slipping off the railing and panic rolled through his body, he looked down at the kid who was still holding on for dear life._

" _Kid! Kid I need you to do something for me." Luca said trying to be as calm as possible._

" _Y-yes?" The boy managed to squeak out._

" _I need you to climb up me."_

 _The boy's eyes widened and he started shaking his head vehemently. "I-I cant!" He wailed, fresh tears springing to his face._

 _He started babbling again. "I just wanted to get mommy's balloon! Mommy has cancer and I wanted to get her the balloon to make her better, but the balloon flew away!"_

 _That sent a shockwave through Lucas' heart, he took a ragged breath and spoke. "My mommy has cancer too." He said, the boy looked up at him shocked._

" _She does?"_

" _Yes, she has bone cancer, but I try to be brave because I know that's what my mommy would want for me." Lucas began, finger's slipping a little more. "I know your mommy would want the same right? Don't you want to see mommy again?_

 _The boy nodded quickly. "Yes! I love my mommy."_

" _I love my mommy too, and I want to see her again, but I'm not strong enough to pull us up, I need you to climb over me back to the roof, I need you to be brave, and when we're back up, I'll go see your mommy with you, even buy a new balloon. Deal?"_

 _The boy nodded again. "Okay!" He gripped Lucas' shirt and hauled himself. "I'll do it!" It took an eternity in Lucas' mind, but eventually the boy hauled himself up enough to grip the railings._

 _Lucas' fingers were screaming against the railing, only holding on by sheer force of will at this point. "Hurry kid!" He said, the kid pulled himself over the railing as Lucas lost all his grip, plummeting to the concrete below._

 _Or so he thought, the kid had grabbed him by his shirt. "Hurry mister! I'm not strong like you!" Lucas came back to the world with a gasp as he gripped the railing with his right hand. Pulling himself as the kid pulled too, both collapsing in a tired heap on the roof. Lucas laid there just staring at the sky in disbelief before he started laughing, a breathless relieved laugh, he found the boy giggling too, much in the same fashion._

 _Lucas stood up and held his hand out to the kid. "Let's go get that balloon kid." He said, the kid smiled and took his hand._

A loud scream violently yanked him out of his memory, the source of the scream was Futaba, who was curled up with her hands over her head sobbing, the train had gotten faster, he was sure they were past Aoyama-Itchome by now, some of the train passengers were crying, and a child was huddled in his mothers arms.

Lucas felt a surge of something, and his mind started to work. _I am three cars from the engine car, if I move quickly I may be able to see what's going on, but Futaba's in no condition to move, I'll have to leave her here, but is that the smart option to do? Damnit! What's the right call to make?_

He looked at Futaba one last time and steeled himself. "If I do nothing everyone could die." He told himself and got up and staggered to the train car door.

Futaba didn't even notice him leave, or if she did she was too scared to speak, he moved quickly, dodging train passengers and employees trying to calm everybody.

Suddenly someone yanked his arms and pushed him into a dark corner, immediately Lucas struggled to get free, but surprisingly soft hands kept him firmly in place, he opened his mouth to yell, but his mind went blank when lips pressed against his.

 _Soft_. Lucas thought briefly, mind fogging, his eyes becoming half-lidded, He blinked, once, twice. Then came back to his senses as his eyes widened.

"Mmpfh!" He grunted yanking his face away, he opened his mouth again to yell but the person, a girl, (Thank god) spoke.

"Lucas stop! It's me!" The girl whispered, the familiar voice bringing him pause, he blinked rapidly before he realized who it was.

"What the f-" He stopped himself. "AIRI? Why the hell would you do that!?" He half whispered, pushing the green haired girl away, feeling his face heat up.

"I-I couldn't think of anything else to do to stop you from yelling." She said, blushing furiously looking away. "My first kiss…"

Lucas sighed. Choosing not to dwell on the fact that he took a girls first kiss because of her own stupidity. "Why did you stop me Airi?"

She looked at him. "Your heading to the train car." She said, it wasn't a question. Lucas was surprised but didn't show it.

"How do you know?" He asked her and she smirked.

"I feel like you're the type of person to do something like that." She said.

"Why are you here?" He asked her, she raised an eyebrow at him.

"I'm going to school like you doofus, or was anyway." She teased.

"Hmph." Lucas huffed, looking away. He looked back at her and decided to mess with her to get her off track.

"So, first kiss huh?" He asked, instantly she turned bright red. "And you didn't even do it properly." Now she looked annoyed.

"Like your some expert." She fired back, Lucas smirked internally, it was working.

He grabbed her by the hips and pushed her gently into the wall of the train car. "I am" He said huskily. Airi swallowed thickly. She was about to say something when Lucas pressed his lips to hers.

Airi didn't know what a deep kiss was, but she had the idea that this was it, Lucas' tongue flicked across her lips and she opened her mouth instinctively, her mind fogged as Lucas pressed into her, her body crushing against his as he gripped the upper part of her leg just below her butt, her mind fogged completely as she forgot the entire reason she stopped him. Something about helping him stop the train? She didn't remember.

Lucas suddenly released her and backed away clearing his throat as Airi slid her back down the wall until she was sitting, she was practically steaming.

"Sorry, got a bit too into it." Lucas said, Airi didn't even hear him, nor did he notice him continue his walk.

Lucas for his part was still coherent, however his ears were burning red. _WHAT CAME OVER ME JUST NOW!?_ He screamed at himself _. I only meant to distract her, not dry hump her in the damn train car!_

He violently shook the thoughts out of his mind, choosing to focus on the objective, he spied a crowd of people in front of the door. To the next car, two people trying to pry it open.

He had made it, he pushed his way to the front of the crowd to survey the scene. He could see through the window into the engine car and found the train driver unconscious at his seat, face on the controls.

"Did he have a heart attack or something?" Lucas wondered aloud a couple people looked at him but didn't offer an answer, he walked up to the door and tapped on it ignoring the other train passengers words telling him to move.

 _Carbon steel, cant be broken._ Lucas thought and looked at the door handle, he smiled to himself, unlike the other doors which were sliding doors this one had a nob, however, he didn't know how to pick a lock.

"This door has a knob." He called out gathering the attention of the train passengers. "If anybody knows how to pick a lock and has a bobby pin they can pick it, we can get inside!"

Murmurs throughout the crowd but no one stepped up much to Lucas' annoyance. Then a familiar female voice spoke up from the crowd.

"I do." Airi Kusunagi said, pushing her way through the crowd, she was still slightly flustered and her hair was all over the place but she had a look of determination in her eyes.

Lucas flushed and looked away, unable to make eye contact with Airi as she went to work on the lock, much to his shock in seconds a clicking sound was heard and the door opened, before either of them could move train attendants ran into the room.

The crowd gathered by the door as Airi stalked up to Lucas with a glare from death, Lucas swallowed thickly and he couldn't help his eyes as they traveled down to her lips for a moment before yanking them back up again.

She got close enough to make him uncomfortable. "We'll talk about what happened later. This. Isn't. Over." She said with a glare.

Lucas nodded his head rapidly. "Yes ma'am."

She stared at him for a moment longer, her eyes falling to his lips for a second, before turning away walking back to her train car, the train finally slowing down. Lucas breathing a sigh of relief.

Everything was okay for now.

 **A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter, I changed the title of the story from return to the metaverse to Revival of the seal, hopefully that doesn't cause to much confusion.**

 **No review responses this time either, didn't get a review. See you guys.**


	13. Chapter 13

Airi was totally ignoring Lucas, not that he was upset or surprised by it, he couldn't imagine she'd be okay with what happened inside the train car a couple of hours ago, but he also wasn't upset because he really at the moment didn't care about how she felt about it. He had too much other stuff on his mind, things that were more important.

 _Saving Shiho, the seal, changing my uncles heart, that's what matters most right now. Not Airi._ Lucas thought. He tried to focus on what the new teacher, Mr. Ushimaru was talking about, something about romance and the three kingdoms? It wasn't really sticking to Lucas.

"Hey Lucas-san! Is that how you pay attention to my important lecture!?" Mr. Ushimaru barked at him.

Lucas raised an eyebrow which seemed to anger the teacher as he picked up a piece of chalk and threw it at him, Lucas reacting faster than he thought he could snatched the chalk out of the air, a few inches before it hit him in the forehead and twirled it around in his fingers with a smug smile on his face.

"Grr, whatever." Mr. Ushimaru said annoyed. "Now, as for what I was saying…" He continued on, Lucas tuning him out again, as well as the impressed whispers of his classmates.

He also wasn't aware of Airi looking at him out the corner of her eye.

 **End of the school day**.

Lucas sighed in relief when the final bell rang, gathering his stuff to leave he was stopped by Airi who had appeared in front of his desk, the tension that suddenly appeared threatened to choke Lucas, but he managed to hold his ground.

"We need to talk." She said, her normally warm blue eyes hardened, Lucas felt a shiver run down his spine, like someone poured ice water down his back.

 _Come on Lucas! You fought demons not even yesterday and yet SHE scares you? Get a hold of yourself!_ Lucas thought, fighting to maintain his composure.

"A-about what?" Lucas tried for casual but his voice cracked, Airi's face turned an impressive shade of red, from anger or embarrassment Lucas wasn't sure, likely both.

"About how you forced yourself on me earlier today." She said bluntly making Lucas wince, suddenly he was happy they were the only two in the classroom.

"If I recall correctly you kissed me first." Lucas said, that had been the wrong thing to say it seemed, as she just got even more upset.

"I only did that to stop you from yelling!" She said loudly, ironically almost yelling herself. She cleared her throat before continuing. "You… decided to play womanizer and take advantage of me when I just wanted to help you stop the damn train, which neither of us actually did anything in the end remotely useful to point out."

Lucas shrugged his shoulder. "I didn't want you involved, so I just did what I had too."

NOW Airi was pissed. "You harassed me because you 'did what you had too'? You bastard! Your mother should be ashamed of you!"

Lucas' jaw dropped for a moment, before he closed his mouth and his eyes lost any sort of light in them, suddenly while Lucas was there. He didn't seem like he was there, he started gathering his stuff at a steady pace, not bothering to look at her, pretending she didn't exist.

Airi noticed this and her anger suddenly shifted into something akin to concern, realizing she just said something she probably shouldn't have even for the situation. "Hey… I'm sorry." She reached out to Lucas but he violently pulled away from her, when he looked at her Airi's blood stilled.

His eyes were so cold, his normal amethyst changed to almost black, they had no life in them, when he spoke his tone was calm. Too calm. "Kusunagi-san. Don't ever talk to me again." He said and walked out without another word.

 **Line break**

 _I deserved that._ Lucas thought as he walked the streets of Shibuya lethargically, it was raining, and he didn't bring an umbrella, his body becoming waterlogged as he walked.

 _I deserve worse_. His thought's were growing out of control, and his body started shaking without him aware, he knew it wasn't the chill of the rain.

 _I deserve to be dead._ Sobs racked his body.

 _I want to be dead._ Lucas fell to his knees, attracting the mildly curious gazes of people.

 _Why am I alive?_ Lucas faintly heard somebody calling his name but couldn't respond.

 _It should have been me_. A hand on his shoulder, people recording.

 _Kill me._ "Lucas it's me…" The voice said, feminine.

 _It should have been me._

"HEY! Turn off the damn phone! The hell do you think your doing?!" A rough male voice said.

Lucas suddenly found himself being shaken, the shock was enough to drag him back to his senses, and he found to his surprise, Ryuji Sakamoto and Ann Takamaki looking at him with concern.

"Takamaki-san? Sakamoto-kun?" Lucas said confused, his voice barely above a whisper, hoarse from the sobs, weak. Vulnerable.

Ryuji waked over and grabbed Lucas hauling him too his feet. "C'mon, let's go somewhere quiet where we can talk, we know a place." He said, gently pulling Lucas along with Ann close by, sending death glares to anybody staring at the trio.

"But… my uncle…" Lucas weakly tried to protest.

"Your uncle can go to hell right now. Your our priority." Ann said, a fierce protectiveness to her voice that brought a huge lump to Lucas' throat, he nodded meekly and let himself be lead to a nearby diner.

Lucas was relieved to find the place so empty due to the rain and it being a weekday, there was hardly anyone there. He didn't want people seeing him like this.

They got a booth in the far back corner, Lucas sitting on the inside as Ann sat beside him and Ryuji in the other seat, a waiter came over and took their orders, leaving the trio alone.

They sat patiently as Lucas curled into a ball, mentally preparing himself, he already guessed they'd want to know what happened to make him bug out like that.

He looked at the two blondes, Ann putting a reassuring hand on his arm, before Lucas started to talk, he told them everything, his whole story up to this moment. He couldn't understand why he was talking to the both of them, he hardly knew them. But something had snapped inside him, the stoic calm persona completely abandoned for the real Lucas, someone that was hurting inside, a firepit of agony.

By the time he had finished Ann was crying and hugging Lucas, who had a few tears himself. And Ryuji who looked at Lucas with a strong sympathy.

"That's so horrible. How could she say something like that! Even if the context of her anger was fair!" Ann said, anger mixing with her sadness.

"You know." Ryuji began. "I thought you were just entitled or something like that, but you've been through so much that the others don't know about, I don't know what I was expecting when you told us your story, but this certainly wasn't it."

Lucas managed a snort. "Entitled? Thanks." He said indignantly but sighed. "Your not wrong though, I am kind of a horrible person."

Ann and Ryuji were shaking their heads before he finished that sentence. "Your not a horrible person at all, dude your like our age so we should know. You wouldn't have the power to protect people if you were, so deep down that's the real you." Ryuji said, a surprisingly deep statement.

"That's… deep coming from you Ryuji." Ann said, a fond smile on her face.

Ryuji just rolled his eyes. Lucas suddenly despite himself got curious.

"How come you both found me at the same exact time?" He asked.

Ryuji and Ann were suddenly blushing. "N-No reason at all! Just ran into each other and decided to hang out." Ann said, a not so real smile on her face.

Lucas had the feeling that wasn't the whole story but decided not to push it. Wasn't his business. "I see." Lucas only said and leaned back in his seat, pinching the bridge of his nose, stemming off a headache.

"Still, I really did deserve the ire she showed me." Lucas said shaking his head. "Uh, thanks, for listening to my story even though I hardly know you."

Ann and Ryuji smiled. "No problem, your our teammate and our friend." Ryuji said.

"F-friend?" Lucas said surprised. Ryuji raised an eyebrow.

"Duh, whattya think we were?" Ryuji asked, Lucas chose not to respond to that.

"If you want my advice." Ann suddenly said. "Stop putting on so many masks or eventually you'll lose who you truly are. The arrogant mask, the playboy mask let those fall away and show the true mask. Your broken one, we'll be right beside you all the way. Your flawed, but everyone is. No one is perfect in this world."

Lucas sat in contemplation for a while, long enough for the waiter to come back with their order. When he did his voice was soft, gentle. "Thank you, Ann. Thank you, Ryuji."

The trio enjoyed a nice meal together, Lucas smiling more than he had in a long time. _This is nice…_ He thought.

 **Line break Akira**

Akira stared at the untouchable sign hanging over the door, debating whether or not they should go inside.

The 'they' being him and Makoto, who were out on a date and decided to drop by, however now Akira was second guessing himself a little bit.

Makoto gave his hand a gentle squeeze. "Hey, you can do it baby." She said affectionately, Akira enjoyed the affectionate side of Makoto, and he really liked how much she progressed in terms of relationships, she used to be hesitant and unsure, yes there was still a hesitancy there, but now she had full confidence In what she was doing.

Akira smiled at her and nodded, giving her a kiss on the forehead making her smile, taking one last deep breath they both strode into the airsoft shop, a door bell jingling as they walked inside.

In sat an older, familiar man who was reading a newspaper looking bored. "Welcome." He said looking up at the two, his eye's widened briefly before going back to normal, and a smile came to his face.

"Well I'll be damned, didn't expect I'd see you ever again kid." Iwai said, coming around the counter he looked at Makoto. "Ahh, and you must be one of his friends."

"Girlfriend, actually." Makoto corrected prompting a raised eyebrow and grin from Iwai to Akira. "I'm Makoto Niijima."

Iwai tensed for a brief moment. "You're a police detective, I've read up on police reports, I often get hounded for owning a 'gun store' even though there not real." He said, no hostility in his voice, just factual.

Akira immediately moved to defuse the situation. "Don't worry Iwai, she's not here to investigate you or something, we're here because we need to buy guns."

Iwai's shoulders loosened as he looked to Akira. "This stuff about the Phantom Thieves again?" He asked then shook his head. "Nah, forget it I don't wanna know, I'd give you the best stuff I got but unfortunately I'm all sold out. I still got the basic set up though."

"We'll take it, you got any revolvers?" Makoto asked, looking around the store. Iwai smiled.

"Of course, right over here little lady." Iwai said, leading her over to a different part of the shop, leaving Akira to pick out a weapon for everyone else.

 _Should I get Lucas a gun?_ Akira thought. _I probably should, it'd be weird if I didn't, but I don't know what he'd like, maybe a hand cannon? Ah but he's out of those, oh whatever I'll just get him a pistol like me._

A tapping on his shoulder got his attention, it was Makoto, who had already picked out her revolver, Akira walked over to pay for his weapons but Iwai was already shaking his head.

"Nah kid, on the house since it's not the good stuff." Iwai said.

Akira nodded in thanks, a thought suddenly occurred to him. "Oh I almost forgot, where's Kaoru?" He asked Iwai.

"Unfortunately, he's studying abroad. I'll tell him you came back though and were looking for him to mess with him though." Iwai said with a smirk.

Akira grinned and nodded, leaving the store with Makoto. "We should probably get these hidden quickly before any questions start being asked." Akira suggested.

"Agreed." Makoto mused, switching the bag in her left hand to take Akira's with her right, traveling back to Leblanc to store the weapons away.

Akira found a bit of downtime after each trip to the metaverse was necessary to keep some semblance of normalcy on the mental state, and he found it couldn't be much better than in the arms of his girlfriend, who had fallen asleep on him.

His mind shifted back to the previous night, when him and Akechi experienced the dark hour, and that mysterious girl named Airi, she seemed to be about his age, but that wasn't what stood out to him at all.

What stood out to him, and most likely Akechi as well, was the person with the last name Kirijo that she was on the phone with, she seemed to be connected with the dark hour somehow, possibly everything else also. But _how._

He shook his head, speculation would do nothing but give him a headache, so for the time being he chose to focus on the brown-haired beauty in his arms asleep, and because of that focus, he could pretend everything was right within the world.

 **Line Break**

Akechi was taking a big risk and he knew it, but he didn't have a choice, he had to fight with his own impatience but now it was finally paying off, he watched as Airi Kusunagi left the school, taking the opposite direction his teammate Lucas did earlier.

In hindsight he probably should have told Lucas and ask for him to do it instead, but the truth was that he didn't know Lucas at all, not only the fact that when he came out of the school something just looked… _off_ about him, like he wasn't well. It didn't help at all that Akechi's own curiosity was at its peak right now, desperately wanting to learn more, completely unable to just leave alone the previous nights events.

Which led him to his current position of watching Airi as she looked around suspiciously before breaking off into an alleyway to call someone, Akechi followed her as inconspicuously as possible, and got as close as he dared to listen to her call, he watched her dial and put the phone to her ear, tapping her foot impatiently.

"Hello?" Airi said to the phone, "Designated Persona user #556 Airi Kusunagi, put me through to Mitsuru Kirijo, I have information that may be important and she needs to hear it directly.

Akechi's mind flashed back to last night during the dark hour phenomena, he remembered the name Kirijo being said, Airi speaking again snapped him back to attention.

"Hello, Kirijo-senpai? Yes, I have new information about the person that you were interested in, the nephew of the serial killer?" Airi said, Akechi's eyes widened, that was Lucas!

"I read him like you asked me too with Aphrodite, I had to hurt his feelings to do so but I did it and can confirm he's a Persona user, as a matter of fact he had two Persona's." Akechi could actually partially here the woman's voice getting higher at this new information.

"Uh ma'am. What's a 'wild card'?" Airi asked, and the revelation made her eye's widen. "Wait, he's the same as the seal Makoto Yuki?" She asked in shock.

Akechi couldn't hold in a gasp at that, which was a bad mistake, suddenly Airi snapped to attention and looked _painfully_ close to where Akechi was hiding. "Ma'am, I'm gonna have to terminate the call." She said, and after a pause: "Because I've been followed."

Akechi instantly bolted out of the alleyway knocking a trashcan over as he sprinted. He heard the loud curse of Airi behind him as he ran through Shibuya the green haired girl not far behind him, he ducked through a large group of people and across the street nearly getting ran over by a truck (which to his relief blocked Airi for a moment) before managing to disappear down another alleyway.

And promptly coming out to collide with Haru Okumura knocking them both to the pavement Haru grunting in pain as she fell, Akechi was momentarily dazed by the collision and had to take deep breaths to wave the dizzy feeling he was getting off.

Haru for her part was looking at him with a stern glare. "What in the heck is your problem?!" She said angrily, forgetting all notions of propriety, Akechi wasn't exactly surprised by her reaction for multiple reasons.

Akechi sprang to his feet and held his hand out to her breathing hard. "Explain… later… run now." He said through bated breaths, Haru's glare disappeared and was replaced by a look of concerned confusion, thankfully she didn't ask questions instead opting to take his offered hand. Akechi started running again Haru close behind just in time for Airi to burst out of the Alleyway, Haru looked back in confusion.

"Fan club that crazy?" She deadpanned while running.

"People still think I'm dead remember?" Akechi had slowed and was down to a jog, relieved he seemed to lose the mysterious Persona user.

"Right." She said then looked around. "Let's go somewhere so we can talk privately, the diner should be fine." She walked off without a response.

 **Line break**

Haru sipped her coffee with a professional courtesy, making it clear she wasn't here for enjoyment, just business since they technically were teammates.

She put her coffee down and looked at Akechi, who had put on sunglasses and tied his hair in a ponytail to hide his identity, he wasn't worried about it normally because in the streets there were so many people, but here it was different, less people meant more chances to recognize him.

And Akechi didn't like to be recognized nowadays.

"So, things have gotten a lot more interesting." Haru said, Akechi wasn't sure that'd be the phrase he'd use but he wouldn't judge.

"Yes, it has, Lucas has a much bigger role than being an interesting wildcard."

"You were reckless though, if you had gotten caught by her-" Haru began.

"But I wasn't, and because of that I learned a lot. Enough to shed some light on several things." Akechi interrupted earning the look of death from the fluffy haired girl.

"Maybe so, but it was stupid of you to go alone." She insisted and Akechi sighed, she was right.

"Sorry Okumura-san." Akechi said, he was saying that a lot these days, and was shocked each time that he meant it, however this time his sorry meant a lot more just the current topic.

"Sorry wont bring back my father, and wont bring back Futaba's mother." She snarled, she drained the rest of her coffee and stood up leaving a few bills on the table. "I don't know how you seemed to get Futaba to forgive you so easily, but you wont be getting that from me."

Akechi sat there for a while longer in contemplation before leaving, shedding his disguise on the way out. "I know Haru." Akechi said to himself. "I know."

 **A/N: Another chapter guys, enjoy.**


	14. Chapter 14

"So you learned all of that by tailing Airi? I agree with Haru that it was reckless to go alone but still, good job Akechi." Akira said, it was late and all the Phantom Thieves minus Lucas (Who was most likely at home) were in Akira's room in Leblanc.

Akechi gave a small smile and nodded his head, clearly satisfied with himself.

"We definitely have to tell Lucas this." Ryuji said. "But in the meantime, you and Akechi had something you wanted to tell us?"

Akira and Akechi nodded to each other, Akira is the one who spoke. "Last night we encountered something new, a new territory for shadows and Persona's. It's called the dark hour, and every night at midnight, it happens, time freezes and everyone who doesn't have a persona goes into a coffin, the sky becomes tinted, water turns to blood and all electronics stop working for this time period."

There was a pregnant silence at this new revelation before Yusuke spoke up. "It's 11:45 right now, fifteen minutes until this supposed dark hour, can I assume you want to see if we can go in? We are very aware that you and Akechi can go in. But maybe not us."

Akechi shook his head. "It would be strange if not everybody in this room could go in, so I don't see why not."

"Count me in too." A voice said from the stairs, everyone's heads turned to see Lucas walking up the steps, a determined look on his face.

 _Somethings different about him._ Akira thought. "Door was unlocked, I heard everything from the stairs, including what Akechi learned, Airi and this Kirijo group are after me right? Let's go after them instead, if we can get the jump on them we can take them down." Lucas insisted, stepping forward.

"Hell yea! Let's kick some ass!" Ryuji said, high fiving Lucas, Akechi was shaking his head.

"Despite how it may sound, I don't think they're our enemies, at the least not yet, Me and Akira were saved by this Airi girl, I don't comprehend why they would be hostile towards us now."

Lucas thought for a moment. "So, Makoto Yuki is the seal, and if they have ties to him, it's possible they could be our allies, the very least acquaintances, if they know they need me they wouldn't attack me basically?"

Akechi nodded. "Correct, however this is simply conjecture, nothing is truly set until we experience it ourselves."

"If I may?" Makoto asked, everyone looked at her giving her the floor. "I think we should hold off on going into the dark hour today, if we have any choice in the matter, isn't tomorrow supposed to be the day we go back into Christopher's palace?"

Futaba spoke. "I agree with Makoto here, while all this is interesting, I'd rather finish one quest before tackling another."

"I also agree." Lucas said to everyone's surprise. "However I don't think this is something we can exactly ignore."

Morgana meowed to get everyone's attention. "I think we should split up into different groups, there are ten of us, so five go into the dark hour, and five go into the metaverse tomorrow, that way we have a fresh team of five instead of a tired team of ten."

"That's a good idea, but who'd go into the dark hour? If we all can even get in there?" Lucas asked.

"Well not me or Akechi." Akira began. "We've already been there, Lucas should also come with us, so that's three for the metaverse."

"Little crestfallen I wont be going into the dark hour, or at least truly seeing it, but I promised I'd follow you." Lucas said.

"I'll go with you to the metaverse." Ann said.

"Me too, I don't mind missing it." Yusuke said.

"Alright." Akira said. "That means, Makoto, Haru, Ryuji, Morgana and Futaba will be hitting the dark hour up, be safe guys."

Before anyone could respond, what felt like a shift in reality happened, Akira felt this sensation before the first time, however at the time he was about to be murdered so he ignored it.

He couldn't ignore it this time, suddenly they were in the dark hour, whether a stroke of incredible luck or the whims of fate all of his friends were still present, none of them had become a coffin.

"W-what was that?" Haru asked, holding her head in discomfort. Lucas put his hand on the table to steady himself, looking suddenly sick, blinking rapidly to steady himself.

"That." Akechi began, unaffected as Akira was by the shift. "Was the dark hour appearing."

"I guess that means we go right?" Ryuji asked.

Akira nodded. "Right, but here, I bought weapons from untouchable for everyone. When we were here last we couldn't use our persona's, but maybe we can still use these in this cognitive world." He said passing out the guns to everyone.

Lucas took the pistol and dangled it from his hand as if it was something gross. "Something wrong?" Akira asked him, Lucas looked up and realized everyone was looking at him.

"I… uh… Don't like guns." Lucas admitted. "And since I'm not going to be experiencing this for myself in full right now I'd rather not use one."

"Oh? How come you don't like guns? These are actually just airsoft's too." Ryuji questioned.

"My… my father." Lucas said, shocking everyone aside from Ann and Ryuji, they already learned of his past. "He was discharged from the army due to a bullet wound, shot in the back by a traitor in his squad, it missed his spine by maybe three inches."

"So about this dark hour." Makoto began changing the subject, much to Lucas' relief. "We've already set our teams up… but… what do the ones not going do? Just sit here and wait until it's over?"

There was an awkward silence at that, clearly no one had completely thought this through, it _was_ a bit of a rushed plan in general, taking the risk of exploring the dark hour without any guarantee they can defend themselves isn't exactly smart, but they had to take that risk, they couldn't just ignore this.

"This plan in general is clearly rushed." Lucas stated. "But necessary, we have to know what this is, not like we have any better ideas, so we should just stick with this plan. It's better than nothing."

Makoto looked like she wanted to argue, but thought better of it.

"All right." Akira said clapping his hands together, looking at his friends heading into the dark hour. "Makoto, you are the leader for this one. Be safe, stay as hidden as possible. Trust me, you don't want to see those shadows up close."

Makoto nodded and turned to her group, slipping into her Queen Persona. "All right, Squad B move out." She commanded, leaving Leblanc with the group.

"Will they really be okay?" Lucas asked concernedly. "They only really have four fighters, Futaba is more of a… support, and need I remind you-you said yourself that we cant use our Persona's here."

Akira nodded resolutely. "They'll be fine." _They have to be._

 **Line break on top of a building.**

"You know Kusunagi-kun. I only came out here to see the wild card, not to deal with this dark hour, that's why I left it to you." A woman said, about twenty years of age.

Airi flushed a little. "I understand Kirijo-senpai, however I figured you would want to see this wildcard for yourself, considering he is like the seal."

"The seal has a name, Makoto Yuki." Mitsuru said, her red hair whipping as she looked at her junior in age. "However the odds of him knowing about this place, or you are drastically low."

"Ehh she was stupid enough to get followed, possibly by another one of that American wild cards group, so he may know about it." A boy in a hat said, a katana resting on his shoulder.

"That's surprising insight coming from you, Stupei." A girl with neck length light brown hair said, also adorning white earrings.

"Oh shut it Yukari no one asked you at all." Junpei shot back annoyed, Mitsuru groaned.

"Remind me why you two decided to accompany me from iwatodai again?" Mitsuru asked.

"Simple, curiosity." Junpei said smirking. "This wild card kid isn't necessarily an enemy right? So why not talk to him? Airi-chan here hasn't attacked any of them unless you count that emotional beatdown."

Airi flinched at Junpei's choice of words. "He's… not bad, and his name's Lucas by the way."

"Right."

"Enough." Mitsuru commanded. "We've got company."

"Shadows?" Yukari asked.

"No, humans, with guns."

Junpei stepped forward and looked down below. "Evoker guns?" Mitsuru shook her head.

"No, a shotgun and grenade launcher as an evoker? Makes no sense."

"Uh, I see a cat with them too." Airi pointed out, and sure enough, a creature that looked remarkably like a cat walked along with the group, they were clearly trying to be stealthy, ducking and dodging between buildings and behind cars.

"Uh, maybe they're not human?" Yukari suggested. "In Iwatodai, remember that we've been encountering people that look like, well, _people_ but in fact are half shadows even in the real world? I mean think about it. Other than us no one can use Persona's, and they have a cat with them."

"That's a possibility, however remember how I told you about those two pretty boys I saved? They fought a Tartarus mid floor level shadow without a persona. And they already knew about Persona's, so I wouldn't say we're the only ones, that's a bit too arrogant." Airi said.

"All right enough of this theorizing." Junpei groaned. "Do we attack or not is the only thing that's important."

Mitsuru listened to all this while observing the people (Shadows?) below, she sighed before making her decision. "Attack, if they're human and part of… Lucas'? Group, good for us. If they're half shadows? Just kill them, less stress on us."

Junpei grinned, "Oh yea, lets do this!" He yanked out his evoker and put it to his head, "Let's rock their world! Trismegistus!" A loud bang resonated through the night, loud enough to make the mysterious group look up in shock and worry. Junpei jumped on his Persona and rode it down to the ground level.

Yukari rolled her eyes. "Oh lord, when will he learn not to be so reckless?" she pulled out her evoker nonetheless and put it to her forehead. "Come! Isis!" And soon she was following after Junpei.

Mitsuru sighed, this is not why she had come.

"Strut your stuff Aphrodite!" Airi yelled out and followed after the two, Mitsuru watched chose to watch them instead of joining them in the fight, not thinking it was worth her time.

 **Line break**

"We're in trouble." Ryuji said as the three Persona users flew down from the building.

"Oh really? How smart Ryuji tell us something we don't know." Morgana snarked.

"Keep your guard up guys." Makoto commanded.

"Hey guys? Isnt that girl the Airi Akechi and Akira were describing." Haru said motioning towards the green haired girl.

"I really should have recognized her, she's the class representative for Lucas' class." Futaba said.

"I don't think we have time to be talking! HERE THEY COME!" Morgana mewled and dodged to the right, the phantom thieves all dodged in different directions as the guys Persona struck, whiffing on all of them, however shattering the ground.

The brown haired girl smacked him upside the head. "Idiot! Don't just attack recklessly."

"Who cares!? They're half shadows anyway!" The boy fired back.

 _Half shadows?_ Makoto thought. "Hold on!" She said quickly, shocking the three strangers into listening to her. "We're not shadows, we're humans!"

The boy scoffed. "Yea we've heard that lie before, Trismegistus, attack!" He yelled out, the persona heading straight for Makoto, only her Aikido training saved her as she twisted her body in time to dodge the attack and instinctively launched a kick at the Persona, hitting it in the stomach.

The boy doubled over as if _he_ was the one kicked, coughing. The brown haired girls eyes widened then narrowed with anger. "Your gonna pay for that! Sweep them away Isis!"

Her Persona charged but Makoto was tackled to the ground by Ryuji, knocking them both out of the way. Ryuji glared daggers at the three and stood up baring his shotgun, the three tensed up.

"I hope this still works!" He yelled and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. Ryuji tried again, still nothing. "Damnit! Our weapons our useless here too?!" Throwing his weapon instead, clattering uselessly on the ground.

"Th-this Is a boss we cant defeat, we need to run away." Futaba said, her voice shaking, she dropped her weapon and turned to run away, but to her horror Airi was standing behind them, blocking their path.

"We're surrounded!" Haru exclaimed in horror. Makoto felt dread seep into her bones and she tried desperately to think of a plan.

Her mind drew blanks, just like their weapons, her mind was currently not working. Right now, they were to put it bluntly. Fucked.

 **Line break**

"Rather interesting time to visit me, wouldn't you think Igor?" Lucas said, he wasn't sure when he had fallen asleep, but suddenly seeing a desert gave him clues as to where he was, however now instead of barren sand, there was a small Oasis near him.

"It has been a while, and better now, than never as they say." Igor said with a chuckle.

"Why'd you call me now?" Lucas asked, in no mood for banter.

"To bestow you a gift, you have awakened your persona, started forging bonds, your destiny. I am to put it honestly, very proud of your progress, even your heart has started to heal."

Lucas was curious. "What gift?"

Suddenly something cold materialized in his hands, he looked down and was shocked that he was holding a gun, however this gun was all silver and had black and blue flame patterns on it.

"That, Wild card, is an evoker. It is what you use to summon your persona inside the dark hour." Igor explained.

"I thought these things were manufactured by the Kirijo group, Akechi and Akira said as much at least."

"That is true, and this is no different, however this evoker is special. I held onto it in honor of my favorite guest."

It clicked in Lucas' mind. "This is Makoto Yuki's evoker, isn't it?" Igor's grin widened even more it seemed.

"You might want to use that to save your friends, less they be killed." Igor said, grin never fading. Lucas' eyes widened.

"What do you mean!" He demanded, but Igor was already fading away. "No! Come back!"

 **Outside the dream**

"DAMNIT, IGOR!" Lucas shouted, wrenching himself awake, left hand gripping at open air, his teammates were staring at him in shock, they were playing cards.

"Did… Igor talk to you?" Akira asked, anticipation in his voice, Lucas just siged and laid back down on the bed and winced as cold spiked his neck, he fumbled behind his neck and felt the cold metal, his heart stilled and his mouth went dry as he pulled out the evoker, staring at it like poison.

Lucas sat up and shot out of bed, holding the gun in his hands. Akira and the other's stood up. "I didn't buy that, Lucas, why do you have that?" Akira asked.

Lucas didn't respond, his mind was whirring back to Igor's last statement. _You might want to use that to save your friends, less they be killed._ He had said, it wasn't a jest, it was real, this evoker was real.

And if this evoker was real.

Then that means his teammates were really in trouble, Lucas shoved the gun into a holster that somehow appeared by his side and sprinted down the stairs and out the café, ignoring the shouts of the others he left behind.

 _Shit, shit, shit. I hope I can make it in time!_ He stopped as he realized something, he didn't know where he was going!

Mind working on overdrive, an idea popped into his head, he ran into an alleyway and looked around, finding his objective he started climbing up the fire escape to get on the building.

 _If I can just see a little bit, I can find them! C'mon climb faster damnit!_ Lucas grunted as he got to the top of the building, he had to strain his eyes, but about half a mile ahead of him he could see someone standing on top of a building, looking down.

He observed the buildings in front of them, taking a deep breath he started sprinting. _This is a bad idea!_ He managed to think as he jumped barely managing to leap to the other building, tripping and crashing and groaning in pain.

"Parkour… not one of my strong suits, ouch." Lucas mumbled, getting up to do the same thing, with more success than last time, this continued for the half mile, Lucas growing more anxious with each jump.

He got to the building before the one with the person on top of it, now he could clearly see it was a girl with red hair slightly older than him, as luck would have it she hadn't noticed him yet.

He looked around frantically for his teammates, and his heart stopped when he looked down to the street level.

All his teammates were sprawled out on the ground, none of them conscious, Lucas couldn't tell whether they were alive or dead, Ryuji had blood pooled around his torso, and Makoto's head was bleeding, down on the ground were three more people, two he didn't recognize… but the third.

Rage, boiling, Airi fucking Kusunagi, smiling in triumph with the other two bastards down there, Lucas climbed down the building slowly as to not alert the girl on the roof.

Something snapped inside him, something important, Lucas found himself in a deadly calm again, too calm. Why did he want to start laughing?

He got down to ground level. "Persona change." He whispered, switching to Grim Reaper. He felt something new rise in him, and he realized that Grim reaper had given him a new skill, one he knew just who to target with it.

He walked out into the street, but the three hadn't noticed him yet, he didn't care about the girl on the roof, he took the evoker out and put it to his head, then, they noticed him. Airi's eyes widened, and the other two looked at him confused.

"Hey-" The guy began, but Lucas interrupted.

"Grim Reaper." Lucas said, looking directly at Airi. "Mudo." He pulled the trigger, the blast tilting his entire body however he stayed on his feet, in a flash, Grim Reaper appeared. Lucas started grinning when the skill started stabbing into Airi, she screamed in pain. Lucas grinned wider, the last one hit!

Airi fell to the ground. "Airi!" The boy screamed then glared. "You bastard! Who the hell are you!"

Lucas didn't answer, he just grinned again. "Massacre them! ORPHEUS!" He pulled the trigger again, and Orpheus appeared.

The two left on the ground went ghostly white, and Lucas started laughing. "Guess who I am yet you piece of shit!?" He asked. "I am the wild card you've been searching for! This is your dead friends Persona!"

Lucas wrenched the gun to his head. "You too! Make them suffer in hell! GRIM REAPER!" He pulled the trigger and Grim Reaper rose beside Orpheus.

"He can use two personae at once!" The girl beside the boy said.

"Your goddamn right I can!" Lucas snarled. "And I'm gonna use it to kill you!"

"Orpheus! Grim Reaper! ATTACK!"

 **A/N: Hope you all enjoy this chapter too! Reviews are my lifeline, if I get reviews I feel happy and want to continue writing, so make sure to review or I'll lose my motivation!**


	15. Chapter 15

"Haha! I can feel your fear!" Lucas grinned at his foes. "Orpheus, Grim Reaper, kill them!"

Grim Reaper flew to the boy and swung his scythe, Trismegistus blocking his attack, Orpheus attacked the girl who looked unwell, her persona didn't block Orpheus and the attack got through sending her flying.

"Yukari!" The boy yelled and glared at Lucas with such fury, that even in Lucas' insane state he felt a ball of nervousness.

The pop of a gun resounded behind Lucas, and Orpheus jumped in the way just in time to block the strike of the persona that snuck up behind them, Lucas spun on his heels to face his new foe.

"Are you Mitsuru Kirijo?" Lucas asked, a blank look coming to his face.

The girl didn't respond just put the gun to her head and pulled the trigger, her Persona got more aggressive, rage behind her attacks, Orpheus started getting pushed back.

The redhead pulled out a Rapier, and Lucas was suddenly holding his black sword, he didn't know where it came from but he didn't ask questions.

"Why did you attack my teammates?" Lucas demanded.

"There's been a misunderstanding, a big one, we weren't aware." The girl said, Lucas snarled.

"Don't give me that crap!" He spit. "You didn't even bother to do anything but attack didn't you! You bloodthirsty bastards!"

The girl's eyes narrowed. "I, Mitsuru Kirijo, will be your opponent." She declared.

"I'm helping too Mitsuru, I gotta get revenge for Yukari And Airi." The boy said, flanking Lucas, Lucas didn't even realize Grim Reaper had been defeated.

"No, Junpei." Mitsuru said to him. "We need the wild card alive, if he's truly able to break the seal we need him."

Lucas laughed. "You really think I'm gonna help you now?! I was looking for answers to this to, but now you've screwed everything up!"

That got Mitsuru's attention. "What are you talking about?" She asked. "What do you know?"

Lucas smirked. "I know the seal is breaking, I know there's another group bigger than both of us who also want to break the seal, however in a way that may kill him."

Mitsuru's eye's widened, and the grip on her Rapier wavered. "Then we don't need to fight. We have the same cause."

Lucas looked at her darkly. "I agree." He said and she relaxed a fraction. "Atleast I would have until you attacked my teammates!" He swung his blade at Mitsuru, knocking the Rapier out of her hands, in a flash he made his move, using the hilt of the blade to power it into her jaw, he got behind her and put the sword to her neck hard enough to where it drew a little blood.

He had moved so quickly Junpei couldn't react and suddenly Mitsuru was a hostage, behind him Yukari stirred, blinking her eyes open she looked at the situation with trepidation.

 _This guys' a real threat_. Yukari thought. She looked for her evoker and saw it lying a few feet away, she snatched it up and put it to her head. "Protect my friends Isis!" Her persona charged at Lucas, who cursed as he was forced to let go.

"We don't need to fight guy!" Junpei yelled, a glare was all that he got in response.

Lucas held his arm out and opened his hand, his sword fell from his grasp and hit the ground shimmering away, and in his hand as his replacement weapon materialized was his dual scythe, he spun it around and got into a defensive stance.

"There's no reasoning with him right now." Yukari said running up beside her teammates. "We have to take him down."

"Just try it!" Lucas snarled lunging at the group, Junpei ducked under a swipe and brought his Katana up, however Lucas pivoted his arms spinning his bottom blade into the weapon parrying it at the same time as Mitsuru was forced to block a strike from the top blade.

The force from both strikes was enough to crack the ground around them, Yukari did a back flip and summoned her bow while in the air, nocking an arrow and firing while landing on her feet.

The arrow sailed home, embedding itself in Lucas' back, he yelled in pain and rage, brought his scythe over his head and started spinning it with both arms, both of his close combat opponents had to duck to not get decapitated and Lucas to both of their surprises launched his scythe like a boomerang at Yukari. Yukari was so shocked that she almost couldn't react in time, she managed to jump out of the way of the scythe-it only grazing her- instead of killing her.

Lucas ripped the arrow out of his back growling in pain and impaled Junpei in the top of his left shoulder, he screamed in pain as Lucas punched him in the face, he kicked at Mitsuru stunning her, and caught the scythe as it returned immediately swinging and chopping another arrow down before it reached him.

All four fighters were breathing hard, Lucas was so pumped up on adrenaline it was making him jittery, he was twitching like he was insane and just escaped an asylum, something strange was happening to him, his heart started beating faster, his breath coming in ragged gasps, he felt his evoker burning against his leg.

"How are we being overpowered by this guy!?" Yukari said incredulously, not noticing Lucas' strange motions. "He's just one person."

"Damnit, he got me good the bastard." Junpei grudgingly said.

"Yukari, Junpei." Mitsuru said, noticing Lucas' strange actions. "Somethings wrong."

As if on cue Lucas yanked the evoker out of it's holster and put it to his head, his breathing slowing, a breathless laugh escaped his lips, and a grin came to his face, his amethyst eyes started glowing, and for a moment Yukari got lost in the ethereal glow.

"You guys." Lucas said still grinning. "Are in for it now." Lucas pulled the trigger, and blue ice exploded from the side of his head, his body leaning as blue crystals started swirling from the ground around his body, those same blue crystals started swirling around his Persona, his _new_ Persona. A man with long black hair tied in a Japanese ponytail with a goatee, dragon painted armor with a katana at his side, floating around him were two Japanese dragons

Lucas could hear the voice in his mind. _"_ _ **I am thou, thou art I, from thee battlefield that is thy soul, I am Oda Nobunaga, king Daimyo, and from the sea of thy soul I will lend thee my own strength, to defeat thy enemies!"**_

"Orpheus, switch out!" Lucas commanded, "Oda Nobunaga, take his place!" Oda dashed beside Grim Reaper, a smirk on the Persona's face as he rested his left hand on his katana.

"He invoked another Persona right in front of us!" Junpei said in disbelief. "What do we do Mitsuru?"

"Fight with our own Persona!" Spinning her evoker for style she put it to her head. "I command thee, Artemisia!" blue ice exploding from her head as her Persona materialized.

"Time to shake things up a bit! Trismegistus!" Junpei called his Persona.

"I'll hold back and focus on support." Yukari said jumping back and calling Isis.

 _A three V. one, this isn't gonna be easy, and I'm starting to get tired, I cant use two Persona's for long…_ Lucas thought, he looked back to his unconscious friends and took a deep breath. _I'm the only one who can fight right now. I have to protect them._

Summoning his new weapon, a sleek black Katana with a blue hilt, Lucas readied himself. "Oda Nobunaga! Vicious strike!" He commanded, his Persona dashing at Junpei drew his blade and slashed, Trismegistus managed to parry him however the resulting strength of the attack generated enough wind pressure to knock Mitsuru down.

Nobunaga held his ground, seemingly with a mind of his own, or perhaps in perfect sync with Lucas twirled around with the katana, a spin slash maneuver that hit Junpei, sending him flying.

Not a veteran Persona user for nothing, Junpei landed on his feet, Mitsuru got back up, and sent shards of ice that started freezing Nobunaga, Lucas himself started shaking as if he was the one cold, however suddenly with a bellow Nobunaga broke free of the ice and jumped back, returning to Grim Reaper's side.

Yukari sent a massive wind attack at both Persona's at the same time as she shot an arrow at Lucas again, who dodged it just in time.

Suddenly Mitsuru noticed a massive flaw in Lucas' own power! Two actually, the first is that while he can summon two Persona at the same time he cant use them both, at least not yet, the second was that using two at once was burning through a lot of his energy really fast, his forehead was coated in sweat, and he seemed to be struggling to see.

"Guy's listen to this!" Mitsuru called, relaying her observation to her two allies. "Attack all at once and he wont be able to defend himself!"

Yukari and Junpei nodded silently, Mitsuru and Junpei charging while Yukari nocked another arrow, the latter two's Persona's attacking Lucas'.

Lucas gritted his teeth at the strain, well aware of his own weakness, he heard the snap of a bowstring and ducked under another arrow, but this time he found it a bit harder to stand back up.

Lucas mentally checked Nobunaga's skill list and felt a word rise to his lips. "Nobunaga! Desperation!" he commanded, pretty fitting for the situation. Suddenly Lucas felt super weak and strong at the same time, like he couldn't take a punch from a baby but could knock out a bear in one punch.

Junpei got to him and swung his sword like a bat, Lucas blocked it and countered with his own strike boosted by his skill, slashing the sword across his body Junpei screamed in pain, as blood started dripping onto the pavement.

White hot agony exploded through Lucas as Mitsuru struck him with her rapier, it only grazed him, but it felt like she stabbed him right through the everything.

Lucas called Grim Reaper and had him attack Mitsuru and Junpei, coming up behind them he swung his scythe, the long handle of the blade picking the both of them up and threw them back, they hit the ground and tumbled, and suddenly it was back at square one, well not square one, Lucas was more tired now and Yukari was casting a healing spell over her friends.

"That damn new Persona of his has a few tricks more than what expected." Junpei growled, feeling the cool aura of Yukari's healing spell.

"Yea, but now he's even more tired, he can't keep this up anymore." Mitsuru said, and on cue, Lucas fell to one knee, His new Persona disappearing, leaving him with only Grim Reaper, Mitsuru shook her head. "Thankfully he hasn't mastered his own abilities yet, if he had… we'd already be dead."

"I can't believe he has Orpheus…" Yukari said softly. "That was Yuki-kun's Persona… Since he has it, he can't really be that bad of a guy, right?"

"We don't know why Persona's go to humans, and I don't think we ever will." Mitsuru said. "Orpheus can't be his initial Persona, and Oda Nobunaga came to him in front of our eyes, that means that skull Persona is his true one."

"What did he call it again?" Junpei asked. "Grim Reaper, right?"

"Yea… whatever his heart may feel, it's not good." Yukari solemnly agreed, then her eyes sparkled. "I still think he's good at heart actually, I mean look how hard he's fighting to protect his friends."

Mitsuru thought about this fact, she was going to finish him but now… "Wild card." She called, Lucas looked up, his amethyst eyes dancing.

"We don't want to fight anymore, we didn't in the first place, it was a misunderstanding, a full misunderstanding." Mitsuru said, she held her hands up as if in surrender. "Please let us just talk so we can explain why we attacked your friends."

For a long moment, nothing happened, Lucas just stared at them blankly, eventually to their relief Grim Reaper suddenly disappeared, he was clearly still tense, but Lucas gave Mitsuru a look that let her know that he was finally listening.

Relieved, Mitsuru began to speak. "We attacked your friends because we thought they were half shadows, they had no evoker and they were people. A half shadow is an evolved shadow that has bled into the human world, they sacrifice some of their power and they are able to take on the appearance of humans, where we come from they are very frequent."

Lucas nodded at this. "I… remember Kusunagi-san apparently told some of my other allies that your Kirijo Group is the cause of this."

"Yes." Mitsuru confirmed. "But I wasn't directly involved back then, the Kirijo group back then did experiments dealing with shadows… something went wrong and a huge explosion happened, creating this phenomena you see, as well as Tartarus, the Kirijo group also created evokers, which help us use our Persona here."

"It's strange I cant use my Persona here naturally, where me and my allies come from we can summon them naturally, however the process is… agonizing." Lucas said.

Mitsuru's eyes widened, _they can naturally use their persona's without any help normally? How can this be? Just how strong in actuality are these people?_

"So that's what it was all about." A voice said behind Lucas, relief filled his body as he turned.

Makoto was the one who spoke, she was awake, her and the other's were all conscious again, she was currently staring at the trio with some distrust on her face. "While it may have been justified where you come from, hasn't anyone ever told you not to shoot first and ask questions later?"

They all had the grace to look sheepish. "My apologies, you are right Mrs…?" Mitsuru trailed off.

"Niijima, Makoto Niijima, state detective." Makoto said.

"An officer?" Mitsuru said. "Then you have me deepest apologies Niijima-san."

"No matter, Kirijo-san." She said kneeling beside Lucas. "Are you okay?" She asked, Lucas nodded.

"Damn, this stuff is really a lot bigger than we thought, it's such a headache." Ryuji complained.

"Even so, it was good that we came out, we ended up learning something to take back to the others after all." Haru said.

"Yea, but to put it in the words of Ryuji: we got our asses kicked." Morgana said.

"That's a boss I never want to fight again." Futaba said simply.

"Getting back on topic." Lucas said, interrupting his eccentric friends. "I saw your reactions when I summoned Orpheus, why?"

They hesitated for a moment, it was Yukari who spoke. "He was the Persona, Yuki-kun first awakened too, his initial persona basically."

"I've met the seal." Lucas said causing the three strangers jaws to drop. "Well, not technically, but in a dream, I remember nothing but darkness, and he was suspended in the air with his arms held out, like he was crucified, he said that _she_ was growing stronger, and that he wasn't sure how much longer he could hold her back."

"Oh _please_ tell me that 'she' is not who I'm thinking it is." Junpei begged.

"Nyx." Lucas confirmed, the one name seeming to make the entire dark hour just a little bit tenser.

A moan of pain nearly shook Lucas out of his shoes, suddenly he remembered in his insane state that he nearly killed Airi, (who was currently being treated by Yukari) with an attack that Grim Reaper had given him.

A pained look came to Lucas' face. He felt bad for a lot of things. They were gonna have to talk later, he wasn't in his right mind, he really didn't want to kill her.

"You really did a number on her." Yukari said glancing back at Lucas, he looked away and said nothing.

"Basically… we need to re seal Nyx for good, kill her." Mitsuru said.

"Sounds easy right?" Ryuji asked. "I mean if we all band together we can totally do it."

"It's not that easy." Lucas said. "Nyx is death incarnate, I don't even want to imagine how hard the fight was to seal her away, it may be impossible to kill her because of that."

"So resealing is our only option then." Morgana confirmed. "But how are we gonna do that when we don't even know what we're fighting?"

"We know where the seal is, our friend." Junpei said suddenly.

"Where is it?" Lucas said leaning forward.

"Should we tell them so much?" Yukari suddenly interrupted. "I mean we know only what Airi has told us and that's like… nothing, it doesn't feel right to divulge our secrets when they tell us none of theirs."

Mitsuru nodded her head in agreement. "Yes, that is very true, I've spent a lot of time looking for answers on how to free Makoto Yuki, and since you were able to _talk_ with him… you may be the key."

 _You are the key. That's what Igor said to me._ Lucas thought. "Alright." Lucas decided, wincing a little as he stood. "Come with us to where we are, it's a little crowded, but it should be safer there, we'll talk more there."

"Are you sure that's wise Lucas?" Haru asked suddenly, a whisper as the rest of the group huddled close to him to talk, suddenly it was like Lucas was a leader in a game, him deciding what they should do.

It felt good.

Lucas shook his head. "Not at all, but we know next to nothing, they know what we need to know, and it seems we know what they need to know." Lucas whispered back.

Makoto glanced at the three newcomers. "Okay, but we should keep our guard up just in case."

"I agree, in close quarters with all of us we can take them down if they try anything." Ryuji said.

"Right, we'll leave the talking to you, Akira and Akechi." Morgana said.

"Alrighty then." Lucas said in his normal voice, turning towards the three other persona users. "Let's head to Leblanc."

 **Line break**

It was utter madness for the first hour when everybody had got back, they had to explain the situation and the injuries and Makoto had to constantly reassure a raging Akira that she was okay.

The dark hour was well over, the sounds of the city a comfort to them after the dead silence that was the dark hour, the three new Persona users were sitting at the counter, taking in all that they were told.

"It's hard to believe that you can go into someone's heart and change it, but I don't believe you have a reason to lie to us." Mitsuru said.

She got up off the stool and walked towards Lucas, she stared into his face with a purely analytical gaze, sizing him up. "If your truly the key… Then you are of great value to us, and in turn… we can be of great value to you." She said.

Akira spoke up. "Where is the seal, you said you know where he is so why don't you tell us this now?"

Mitsuru gave him a side long glance, however it was Yukari who spoke up. "Yuki-kun.. he's at the top of Tartarus… which suddenly reappeared two months ago, on the moon."

Lucas choked a little. "T-the fucking moon? Are you kidding me?"

Junpei shook his head and spoke. "No, the moon is Nyx's true body, or something like that, our friend sacrificed himself, sealing Nyx, or the desire for humanities death whatever, becoming a seal, crucified on the door."

"However… somehow he retained his consciousness for an entire month after sealing Nyx away, because of an oath he made to us… and he died soon after." Yukari said, her voice taking on a melancholy tone.

"But if he died sealing Nyx, how'd he come back?" Lucas asked, surprisingly, it was Akechi who answered.

"He was clinging to life… the entire time, his soul was gone except that one desire to see you all one last time, but not his body. His body has long since deteriorated most likely, so all that's left holding the seal is his soul, even though it was also the one thing keeping him with you for that final month?" Akechi theorized.

"We'll never truly know most likely." Yukari said.

"A soul slumbers at the ends of the world, giving his life for a humanity that has lost the desire to live…" Lucas said… he leaned forward and clasped his hands together, they were shaking. "No physical body, just a soul… how am I supposed to save him… when he has no body…"

"There has to be away, do not lose hope yet." Yusuke said.

"He's right, you have a purpose that fate itself has given you, there has to be a way for you to save him." Haru agreed.

"For what it's worth." Mitsuru said. "I hope you can save him, truly."

"That's a lot of responsibility ya know." Lucas said, Akechi stepped forward.

"You wont be going through it alone, we'll all be right beside you, I swear it." He said.

"Thanks… everyone." Lucas said then stood up. "But right now, there's someone that needs our help, another friend of ours."

Ann nodded resolutely. "Shiho, we have to save her no matter what."

"Who's Shiho?" Yukari asked.

"She's a friend, taken captive by the shadow of my uncle, the person we're supposed to force a change of heart on." Lucas explained, her eye's widened.

"Your uncle has a shadow? Oh I'm so sorry." She said, her eye's showing sincerity, Lucas let a genuine smile slip out the corners of his mouth, such a slight upturn Yukari was sure she was the only one who noticed it.

"No harm done, I hate the man anyway." He waved off.

Akira pulled out his phone. "All right guys, I know your tired, but we should go as far as we can today, you all ready?"

"Let's do this!" Ryuji said, smacking his fists together.

"I'll show them my skill!" Akechi said with a wide smirk.

"Alright let's move out!" Futaba said a bounce in her step.

Lucas smiled again and rolled his eyes, he looked to three newcomers. "You guy's should probably head out back to where you came from, when we're done with what we need to do here, I'll find you." He said.

Akechi suddenly spoke up. "As will I, I have seen Nyx for myself, I want to believe I have a role in this myself."

Mitsuru looked hesitant to agree, but seeing the determination in the two she nodded. "Alright, I'll have Airi tell you of our location when she wakes up."

Lucas didn't really want to speak to her, but he nodded nonetheless.

" **Beginning Navigation.** " The female robotic voice said.

The world distorted around them, and Lucas got a last glimpse at the three newcomers he was amused by the shock on their faces.

Despite where they entered from, the group in fact entered at the bottom of the mountain, Lucas was thankful for this, as he did not want to go through the city again and see all those bodies.

Akira stared up the mountain, it really was just a normal mountain, the only thing standing out being the castle atop the mountain.

"Kinda boring." Ryuji said, looking up. "You think it'd be something different wouldn't it?"

"I'm not complaining, I don't think I have the stamina to fight while moving up the mountain, at least there's a path for us leading up." Futaba said.

"The worst the mountain will do to us is make us tired, the real challenge is inside there, that's wholly Shadow Lucas' and Shadow Christopher's territory, anything could happen up there, it would be wise to keep our guards up." Yusuke said.

"We should stick together, it would do no good to split up, we're stronger as a unit." Ann said.

"I agree, my incompetence almost got us killed last time." Lucas said then looked at Akira. "Alright leader, I'm following you through this."

Akira smiled and nodded. "Right, let's move team." He said and started walking.

"Roger, keep your wits about you everyone." Makoto said.

"If we don't lose them first." Haru said.

"Was that a jab at me?" Akechi asked, amusement in his voice, bringing a chuckle from the group, except for Haru, who looked annoyed by him.

 _She hates him._ Lucas realized. And by the look on Akechi's face, he was perfectly aware of this.

Ryuji groaned while walking. "This climbs gonna suuuuuckkk." He complained.

"Arent you a track star? This should be nothing to you Ryuji." Ann teased.

"Code names everyone." Makoto chided Ann who looked sheepish.

"My bad." Panther said.

"That's completely different!" Skull bellowed. "I run straight lines, not walk up freaking mountains! And how the hell do you look so full of energy Fox?!"

"Well for one we just started walking five minutes ago." Fox deadpanned earning a chuckle from everybody but Ryuji. "And last month I had to trek up mountain to find the source of my inspiration."

"Source of inspiration?" Skull echoed.

"It's means something about the mountain inspired you right?" Noir asked.

Fox beamed at the fluffy haired girl. "That's correct, I'm happy to know you have the mental fortitude to understand me, unlike skull over there.

"Hey!" The mentioned person said.

"How about you Lu- King?" Queen suddenly asked, earning a raised eyebrow from the teenager.

"What do you want to do in the future? Like your goals?" She clarified.

"Uh, I dunno', why do you wanna know?" He asked suspiciously.

"J-just wanting to make conversation you know, and to learn more about one of my friends." Queen explained.

"Ooh I think I know what it is." Skull said with a smirk, King's heart started beating fast in trepidation. "I remember in the diner with me and Panther you said how you used to love to si-"

"Be quiet!" King squeaked, thankful for the hood as he pulled it more over his head.

"Si?" Queen echoed, then her eye's widened as she realized it. "Ohh. You love to sing!"

King whimpered but didn't respond, confirming Queen's deductions, Noir suddenly grinned wide.

"I would love to hear you sing King! You shouldn't hide your passion away." She declared, the grin making King pull the hood even more over his face.

"It surprised me when He said his passion was singing, but his father hated it, I haven't heard him yet, neither has Skull but we both want too." Panther said.

"I think it'd be interesting too, it'd definitely lighten the mood." Mona said.

"I could create a painting of King singing, I imagine it would be quite the sight." Fox said, hands held up in a picture frame gesture.

"I wonder if his singing will have any healing properties like those in video games, at least in the metaverse." Oracle said.

"Enough please!" King all but shouted, his face was on fire under the mask. "I have not sang in years, so I'd be incredibly rusty, and besides it's not my passion anymore."

"If you say so." Skull said, the smirk on his face telling Lucas he didn't believe him "But there are singing classes you could take if your spark ever reignites"

"Guys." Joker said catching their attention. "Look at this…" He pointed over to a billboard by a large resting area complete with benches and a clear view of the city below, it would have been beautiful if not for what was down there, on the billboard was a massive picture of someone, King's entire body felt as if it were burning.

The picture was Shiho, she looked horrible. And terrified. She was bruised and battered, her lips were split and her eyes were blackened and bloodshot, her left ankle looked like it was broken, her hair was greasy and matted to her forehead sticking to cuts on it, her clothes were cut up in various places, her eye's looked soulless. As if she wasn't alive.

Under the portrait were words written in blood, _**The girl bleeds, screaming for her savior, tears, blood, the smell of fear. Hurry my prey. You are running out of time.**_

"Running out of time!?" Joker bellowed out punching the billboard. "It's only been two days since we've been here!"

"Shiho…" Panther said, her hands covering her mouth, tears spilling from her mask.

"This… is horrible, this monster will pay for his transgressions." Crow said, clenching his fists together.

"It's horrible, isn't it? I find it quite lovely." A distorted voice said behind them, the Phantom thieves whipped around to face Lucas, but not Lucas. Shadow Lucas.

Shadow Lucas looked at the picture with a sadistic smile on his face, King snarled as he stepped forward, prompting Shadow Lucas to look at him. "What? Upset? How can you be when you're the one that did it."

King faltered. "W-what? What the hell are you going on about?"

"Oh my god are you stupid?" Shadow Lucas mocked. "I'm the one who tortured her, which makes it both of us! I was just so annoyed! Every time I hit her, she'd stay silent and glare at me, however when I left she would break down and call YOUR name, not even the name of her best friend."

"You piece of shadow trash." Fox raged. "How dare you defile her like that when it's only been two days!"

"Oh it's been more than two days." Shadow Lucas mocked again. "You see, here, time passes differently here, as such… you have only about five days before we kill her."

King's legs did buckle then. "No…" He said, prompting a laugh from his shadow.

"Losing hope? Good, because when you fall into despair, it will make it easier to use your shard to break the seal." Shadow Lucas said.

King's mind was so fogged he didn't realize the significance of those words yet, however Crow did. "Seal? Shard? Do you mean the seal holding Nyx back?"

Shadow Lucas realized he just revealed something he probably shouldn't have. "I- Never mind that, it wont matter anyway once we kill the girl. I wont be fighting today, that rematch will be saved for when and if you make it to us. A word of advice since I'm in a good mood. All of us, including the girl are at the throne room, hurry now." He said and disappeared into a shadow.

There was a depressed silence for a long time after that, Panther silently setting the billboard on fire with Skull's assistance while Joker sat down at one of the benches with his head in his lap, Queen beside him rubbing his back gently, whispering something to him comfortingly, Noir, Oracle, Fox and Mona sat at another talking, Crow was sitting alone, staring off into space, King himself was standing a distance way from everyone back near the path, arms crossed, a forlorn expression on his face.

Suddenly Crow stood up and walked over to King, catching his attention, Crow thought it was remarkable that even now he was alert enough to catch the movement near him, he was so on guard even as he looked relaxed, he reminded Crow of Joker in ways.

"I was thinking, we could do a little bit of scouting together, you're the only one who even looks remotely in condition to do so." Crow said smoothly, in truth there was another motive to wanting to talk to King, but he wasn't sure if he should do it yet.

King looked away for a moment, back to the rest of the group before giving a silent nod, leaving the impromptu 'safe area' they headed out, further up the path to the mountain.

"I have to be honest, there is another reason I asked for you to come out here with me, I wished for the chance to speak to you in private." Crow admitted, King tensed up slightly at the lie before glancing back at him, nodding at him to continue.

"It's about what your shadow said, about your shard and breaking the seal." King gave him a confused look before remembering the words his shadow had said, this made Crow continue. "What if this shard is the key to you opening the seal is what I'm wondering. I'm also wondering the circumstances on my own survival."

It clicked in King's head. "You're wondering how Nyx despite being sealed managed to save you from death, aren't you?"

Crow nodded. "I am, I fear there's a possibility… she may use me somehow, and not in a positive way."

"It makes sense." King agreed. "However don't you think we can chalk her being able to save you up to the fact that she's growing in strength despite being inside the seal?"

"Possibly, that's what I sincerely hope for, however I cant see any reason why she would save me without expecting something in return, more than just my wild card ability." Crow said.

King nodded after a moment. "I understand." He said. "But how come you're just telling me this and not the other's as well?"

"Because they, unlike both of us, don't have bigger roles in this like us, and… they're my first ever friends, they accepted me even when they found out who I truly was, except for Noir, but I deserve her ire completely, I feel she's making up for the lack of animosity Futaba seems to have towards me."

"Right…" King said, they both descended into silence, not comfortable or uncomfortable, more neutral than anything else. "I don't think there's anything we have to worry about right now until we reach the castle. We should head out soon anyway if what my shadow said is true."

"I agree." Crow said, both of them turning to walk back down the path, when they got back nothing had really changed, except for Skull and Panther, who were sitting alone at the bench Crow had vacated.

No one had seemed to notice the duo had left, or if they had they didn't say anything, they were clearly disheartened, it was a truly pitiful sight.

"Guys." King said. "We have to go now, we don't have much time." He said.

Nobody moved. King sighed, he racked his brain trying to think of something, _anything_ that would get them moving again, suddenly a memory flashed through him.

" _You have such a lovely voice Lucas." Said Lucas' mother, his fourteen-year-old self smiling shyly as he moved through the hospital room, singing and picking stuff up as he walked around. "Don't you agree honey?"_

 _Lucas father looked up from a book he was reading and shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno' wished he liked sports more but it's fine I guess."_

 _Lucas' mother sighed and rolled her eye's smiling at her son. "Don't listen to your lazy father sweet-heart. You're voice lifts my spirits, make's me believe things will be better, I imagine it would be the same for others."_

 _Lucas smiled and nodded at his mother, and continued to hum to her as she fell asleep._

He pulled himself from the memory with a shake of his head, he hadn't sang in a long time, and considering the situation he doubted it would do anything but get him weird looks.

 _Still, a bad plan is better than no plan_ , he thought, So using that thought process he began to sing the only song he remembered fully.

Life will change.

He was definitely rusty, his voice was shaky at the start and he almost forgot some of the words and how high he had to pitch himself at some words, but eventually he steadied himself, tapping his side with his middle finger as a stress relief he sang with grace, the phantom thieves slowly started becoming more animated, listening in and swaying in the music, smiling as they felt their spirits being lifted.

Life will change signified the coming end of struggles, the ending of a bad period in one's life, the ending of a bad time giving birth to hope, which was the one thing the souls of man fought with when they believed all else was lost.

It signified the growing change in Lucas, him leaving the scars of his past behind, it signified Akechi's desire for redemption, his hope of making amends for the error in his ways, it signified Ryuji's desire to give his mom a better life, Ann for becoming top model, Yusuke top painter, and escaping the scrutiny of being Madarame's disciple, Haru's growing desire to be in control of superfoods.

Makoto's desire of escaping the prejudice of the workforce for women, and to be with Akira forever. Futaba's growing out of her shut in self, Morgana's desire to be human.

And Akira's desire to be something more than just the phantom thieves leader, to reignite the desire inside him to become a member of the diet, to love and be by Makoto's side forever.

Lucas' voice cracked and broke just before the end of the song, forcing him to stop, his throat felt raw and scratchy, his face was a fiery red, and he was fiddling with his hood trying to pull it over his face.

The Phantom Thieves were rejuvenated, hope filled their bodies as they smiled at Lucas.

"That was delightful." Makoto said smiling. "Thank you for doing that for us."

"Your welcome." Lucas said, his voice hoarse. "But all of you, save your thanks please, we need to go now."

"Right." Akira nodded. "Phantom thieves let's do this." He grinned at Lucas and continued the trek up the path, everyone following behind him.

Lucas shook his head and grinned, jogging to catch up to them.

 _Maybe… Life can change._ Lucas thought.

He hoped so, he really did.

 **A/N: I'm so sleepy I'm not sure I can stay awake for too much longer, it took a while to write this, mainly because of writers block and because I've been mad busy with life as of right now, no I haven't given up on this story at all. I'm genuinely enjoying writing this for everybody to read even though I don't get many reviews at times I still appreciate the ones I get, so thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter,**

 **On a side note maybe it was good that It took so long for me to finish this, I was writing so much that I'll admit I felt a little burned out, which made my writing suffer. This impromptu break has hopefully improved said writing, This chapter is the longest I've written actually, over six thousand words. Anywhoozle I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! Make sure to read and review or I will lose my motivation!**


	16. Chapter 16

"Shadow's right in front of us, get ready guys!" Mona said, pointing to the large group of shadows guarding the gate.

"Right, let's do this!" Oracle said, the Phantom thieves rushed the shadows, about seven in number, they exploded into a pool of red and black and rematerialized into their true forms.

"Jack-o-lanterns, this is nothing for us." Joker said twirling his dagger. "Hey King, it's time we teach you a proper crash course in fighting, that reckless stuff may have worked so far but there are better methods for this."

"Hmm, alright leader. Show me how it's done." King said flipping back, Crow, Skull and Queen taking his place, in front of four of the shadows, the other three flew around and flanked King, Noir, Mona and Panther, Oracle flew above them out of the direct action.

"Every shadow has a strength and a weakness, sometimes in order to make battles easier you can target those weaknesses and knock the enemy down, giving you another strike." Joker said. "These Jack-o-lantern's are super weak and as such are weak to several things, like this!" Joker whipped out his gun and fired, King's eye's widening as a real bullet came out of it, knocking the shadow down.

"I'll explain how the guns actually work later, for now though…" Joker slapped hands with Crow, who let out a smirk.

"This is called a baton pass, when you knock down an enemy you can pass the baton and follow up!" Crow said. "Take them down, Robin Hood!" Robin hood nocked an arrow and fired, killing the shadow.

"Alright, you try it King." Joker said, King nodded and looked at one of the shadows, pulling out his pistol.

"Right! Letting loose!" King said shooting his gun, nocking the shadow in front of him down, he turned and shot at another shadow but missed.

He slapped hands with Mona who grinned. "Following up King!" he said. "Zorro show your might!" His persona whipped his weapon with wind slicing speed, actually, it _was_ wind in a solid form slicing up another shadow and knocking it down.

"I'm passing!" Mona said jumping and slapping hands with Fox, who drew his katana and lunged, slicing up one of the downed shadows killing it.

The other downed shadow shook it's body and stood up, attacking with a sudden burst of fire at Panther, who merely deflected it.

"Not bad, could be better though." Joker said. "Watch out the last five are rushing!"

They jumped and ducked the shadow's attacks, escaping without damage. "Woahhh that was sick!" Oracle said and grinned. "It's my turn now, power on!"

Red spirals surrounded the group filling them with strength, Queen stomped the ground letting out a yell as she three pieced and round housed a shadow instantly killing it.

"Damn! Remind me not to piss you off Queen!" Skull said, crossing his hands over his body. "Perrrsona!" He summoned Captain kidd and attacked with a large burst of lightning, heavily damaging the shadow.

One of the shadow's let out a scream, a summoning call It seemed to be as more shadow's manifested at the call, looking ready for a fight, they weren't jack-o-lanterns though.

"Looks like they called some imps." Joker said and grinned. "Alright, lesson two, all out attacks!"

"What exactly are those?" King asked, Joker shook his head making a 'tut tut' sound, King rolled his eyes.

"You did it with us the day you awakened, first you gotta knock all the shadow's down." Joker explained, calmly twirling his dagger. "Easier said than done sometimes, but now if we combine our baton passes, we can knock them down then attack all at once!"

Joker attacked first, then passed to Haru who struck next with her axe, adding a flip and a shot from her grenade launcher, then she passed too Panther, who smirked wildly and smacked up another shadow, knocking that one down as well.

 _Damn, they're really good at working together, they all move with Joker as if he's an extension of their bodies, he does the same with them_. King thought.

"Alright, time for a hold up!" Mona said, all the phantom thieves rushing the downed shadows pulling their guns out like they were a firing squad.

"A hold up?" King echoed clueless. Mona once shook his head and smirked a cat smirk.

"Oh yea, you're an amateur." Mona said, King had to refrain from pointing out how he saved them not even two hours ago. "When you knock down all the shadows your fighting you don't want them to move, so you hold them up, then you do the all out attack!"

King watched as the Phantom thieves jumped and lunged, attacking with such swiftness that his eyes couldn't keep up, after it was over they all did some sort of pose afterward, except Skull who decided he wanted to make out with the ground.

 _They're amazing,_ King thought in awe, _There's no other way to put it, the only reason they lost that fight against Mitsuru's small group is because they literally couldn't fight back._

"That's not everything." Joker said walking up to King. "There's more we can show you like technical damage for example, but we don't have time, you can join next time alright?"

"O-okay." King said, turning his focus to the castle he couldn't help but feel a sense of foreboding as he looked at it, you couldn't see the top of it as it was penetrating the bottom of the clouds, it looked like one of those medieval style castles with the cobblestone structure, there were even barred windows, and King swore he could see hands grasping the bars of said windows.

It didn't help that the front door itself was the color of dark wood with a minotaur plaque one each door side, the outside area around it making giving way to the maze like courtyard they had to walk through to get there.

"I wonder what this building is supposed to represent." Noir said examining it.

"What do you mean?" King asked.

Mona explained instead. "Usually very large distorted structure's are supposed to represent an area of importance for the person with the palace, in this case though the entire city is distorted, however we can ignore that and focus on this."

"A place of importance…" King murmured.

"That doesn't really concern us right now I think." Fox said, putting his hand on the door. "We should head inside."

"Right, I'm curious as to what the inside of this building will look like." Crow said, pushing open the door, inside was a daunting great hall, daunting because inside the hall on it's walls were large statues of people in chains, there was a set of double stairs leading up to a second floor, multiple large doors branching off to different areas of the castle itself, the floor itself was a bleach white, with a read carpet leading off straight ahead to an unknown area.

"Holy shit." Skull said. "This place is massive dude, how the hell are we supposed to find Shiho or our target."

"We'll have to search, obviously." Queen said sarcastically.

"Yea but remember what my shadow said." King remarked. "We have only five days to save her because of the bullshit Christopher said."

"You called him by his actual name?" Oracle noticed.

"He's no longer family to me, I am not a murderer and I will not be like my shadow."

"Oh but being me isn't so bad when you get used to it." A distorted voice said above them, they looked up along the walkway and saw Shadow Lucas sitting on the railing, smiling down at them.

"You again." Crow said savagely. "How many times are you going to annoy us with your presence?"

"Such words! I'm wounded little bird." Shadow Lucas smirked and put his hand on his chest dramatically.

"Why are you here now!?" Skull demanded. "Lookin for a fight cause we'll give you one!"

Shadow lucas laughed. "Oh I'm sure you would, but no, that's not why I'm here. I'm here to break my other's mind with the news I want to show him."

"What news." King demanded.

"Oh nothing that really matters to much." Shadow Lucas said picking at his nails. "Just how your father and mother really died."

King's heart beat doubled in speed, and his throat went dry. "Wh-what? My father killed himself you bastard, and mom died from cancer.

Shadow Lucas shook his head suddenly serious. "So naïve, I truly envy that…" Then he grinned again. "Oh well, time to break that naivete!" Shadow Lucas dropped from the railing, and landed on the ground, and walked off through an adjacent door, The phantom thieves followed after him, King behind them.

Suddenly the Palace shifted, and for a second reality showed itself behind the cognition, King for that second noticed that the area this palace seemed to be disturbingly familiar.

 _Was that what I think it was?_ King thought. _No impossible, it couldn't have been._

The phantom Thieves walked through the door to find that down a long hallway Shadow Lucas stood leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, a smirk on his face, as they got closer Shadow Lucas stood up from the wall and stepped in front of the door blocking them entrance.

"Sorry, only three people at a time, my other has to see this so only two more can go with him, or he can go alone." King's shadow said.

"That's total bullshit!" Skull shouted. "Why cant we all go!"

"Because the room isn't big enough you idiot." Shadow Lucas shot back annoyed.

"I'm going in alone." King said, and walked through the door before anybody could stop him.

Inside was a small dark room, just big enough to fit three people in fact, inside was a video tape projector and a white screen sheeting. King hesitated, taking off his mask as he put the tape into the projector.

The video stuttered for a few moments before focusing, and on the screen in a third person view was… Christopher and his father!? King's jaw dropped.

On the table was a bottle of scotch half empty, they had both been drinking.

"I have a confession to make Chris." King's father said, using a nickname for his uncle.

"What is it Michael? Rebecca just died, I thought we were supposed to be drinking our sorrows away not making romantic confessions to each other." Christopher quipped, the remark not even dragging a smile from Michael.

King was so engrossed into the video he didn't hear Joker and Crow walk in on King, watching silently.

"It's about Rebecca's cancer…" Michael began, letting a sob out before continuing. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry Chris."

Even though it was a video, the three watchers could literally feel the tension rise. "What are you talking about Michael." Christopher demanded, sitting up.

"She… she was in remission!" Michael wailed. "She was getting better! But I still did it!"

Now Christopher was standing. "What. Did. You. Do."

"I cheated on her! I was going behind her back because I thought she was going to die!" Michael admitted. King's breathing started picking up, his mind started spinning, his mouth turned to ash. "So… in order not to get charged and lose everything to infidelity I… pulled the plug on her iv drips in her sleep and left the hospital. She had died over night."

Christopher swayed on his feet. "You… killed my sister?" He said, his voice faint.

"I'm sorry!" Michael begged. "I'm so sorry Chris! I'm so sorry Lucas!"

Christopher was silent a long moment before sighing and grabbing Michael by the shoulder's pulling him up.

"it's okay." Christopher said, and Michael's eye's widened.

"It is!?" he said in shock and hugged Christopher. "Oh thank god you forgive me Christopher!"

"I have a confession to make to." Christopher said, pushing his uncle off him, keeping his head held. His neck.

"Of course, tell me anything! It's okay!" Michael said grinning, Christopher grinned too.

"I'm a serial killer." He said, Michaels eye's widened in horror, right before Christopher snapped his neck, letting Michael collapse to the ground.

Christopher took a deep breath and grinned an insane grin. "Well, time to make it look like a suicide, I got a lot to tell Tokashiki-san when I get back." He said cheerfully.

The video abruptly ended, and King stood there staring at the blank screen for an unknown amount of time, he was numbly aware of Joker and Crow leading him out and was numbly aware of the both of them explaining what they all saw in there.

King finally came back to his senses, and leaned against a wall and slid down until he was sitting.

"Lucas… Are you okay?" Panther asked, not using his code name.

King looked at her with a blank stare for a moment, then let out a breathless laugh. "What do you think?" He asked, her expression indicating she already knew the answer.

"Lu-, King." Queen began. "If you want to stop with all of this… you can."

"What do you mean Queen?" he asked.

"Like if you cant handle it, which would be perfectly understandable, and if you want to stop here for good… you can." Fox clarified.

"They're right, no one would judge you for stopping here." Noir agreed.

King almost agreed, but something stopped him, for some reason the song life will change kept coming into his mind, he looked at all of them. They've went through some horrible things too. But they're still here.

King was supposed to be a leader, he refused to be left behind, shaking his head he stood up, forcing his legs to not shake, he put his mask back on his face.

"That's exactly what they want me to do, this information… kills me inside. But I will not stop here." He said and looked at Joker. "Please, help me change my uncles heart, so he can confess his crimes, this will not break me!"

Joker grinned. "Of course you can stay. I believe everyone agrees with this?" He looked around and saw smiles all around.

King looked stunned, but then he grinned, a genuine grin that Joker was pretty sure could steal a heart all on it's own. "Thank you, all of you."

"Why so formal man? We got your back no matter what." Skull said, King smiled again.

"Alright." Joker interrupted. "Let's head back out, instead of focusing on going through every door, we should go through the one's that look most important."

"How are we to guess which one holds the most importance though?" Fox inquired.

"Simple, the red carpet." Crow said. "The red carpet revealed this video room, an important place, so let's assume that we should check out the doors with a red carpet leading to them."

"That could lead us to an important place, It makes sense, and maybe we could even find where they're holding Shiho." Panther said.

"Alright, red carpet searching time!" Oracle said, heading back into the great hall they noticed a red carpet heading towards an utterly massive door at the end of the great hall.

"Woah guys!" Mona interrupted. "The treasure is right behind this door!"

"What already!? Let's get that shit then!" Ryuji said and pushed at the door, however It wouldn't budge. "Ugh what the hell it wont open!"

"There are keyholes." Joker said, pointing. "Six of them, if we find the key's we can get the door open."

"Yes but where are the key's at?" Noir wondered.

"Wait, hold on a moment, I'm heading back to the video room." Crow said and took off, a few moments later he came back with a large key in hand.

"That was in the video room?" King said "I completely missed that." Crow placed the key in one of the locks, the lock glowing as the key turned itself, a large clicking sound signifying the lock undoing.

"I think I get it." Queen said. "The red carpet, whichever door the red carpet leads to leads to a room where they key is, likely we're going to have to fight or do some trial of some sort to get the key."

"My thought's exactly, and we can also assume that the key's will only be harder to obtain the further we go into the castle, and that some will be on higher floors." Crow said.

"I agree, I have doubts that this entire castle will be traversed, at least that's my hope, but it's likely we'll have to trek multiple floors of said castle to acquire these key's." Fox said.

"I'd say split up, but that hasn't worked both times we've done it…" Skull said.

"Hey guys!" Oracle interrupted. "Good news, I have mapped out the entire castle, I know exactly where the key's are now."

"Great job Oracle!" Mona said.

"Heh, heh, thank you!"

"Where are the key's at Oracle?" Panther asked.

"There's one more on this floor, the servants quarters, two on the second inside the cafeteria and the library." Oracle said.

"But what about the last two?" King asked.

"The last two will definitely be the hardest… as a matter of fact when we get the other's we should stop and prepare for them in my opinion." Oracle suggested.

Skull groaned in annoyance. "Just tell us damnit!" Oracle glared at him but answered anyway.

"One's in the kings room… and the other's in the prisoners dungeon…"

"Shiho's gotta be in that dungeon!" Panther said.

"She is." Oracle responded. "I detected only one prisoner there, but there were a lot of shadows."

"We have to go for her anyway, as cruel as it may be, we should go for her last." King said.

"Well for starters we should tackle the servants quarters, let's do that now." Joker said.

Crow pointed to a door back the way they came. "That way has a red carpet, that's most likely where we have to go."

King was already jogging to the door, Joker right behind him, they flung open the door and peered down a set of stairs, leading down into darkness.

"That's not disconcerting at all." King said sarcastically.

"Oh no way man I feel so welcome looking at it." Joker quipped back, he turned back to the group behind them.

"We only have five days to do this, we have very little time, I know it hasn't worked yet, but know were in the best condition to do this, we need to split up, some take the servants quarters and some take the second floor, only one room though, that gives us time to catch up." He said.

"I agree and don't agree at the same time, who's going where leader?" King asked.

"Let's see…" Joker thought for a moment. "Crow, King, Mona and Queen, you guy's go to the servant's quarters, Queen you lead them, the rest come with me, we got a cafeteria to hit up."

The Phantom thieves were moving almost before Joker finished speaking, Queen leading her group down the dark stairs.

"Persona change. Oda Nobunaga." King whispered. Readying himself for a fight, they soon came to a large door, and Queen signaled for them to stop.

"Everybody ready?" She asked. "We need to keep our guards up."

"Ready" King said.

"Ready" Crow said.

"I'm ready." Mona said, Queen nodded and kicked open the door, they rushed in with weapons ready, but realized with some embarrassment there was nothing in there, not even a shadow.

"There's nobody here." Crow said the obvious, walking in examining the room, it looked like one of those twentieth century house servants quarters, the beds were a plain white, and all stacked close together despite the rooms admirable size.

"Look! Over there!" Mona pointed, they turned their attentions to where he was inquiring and voila, the key was just sitting on a lone table in the room, Mona tried to run over to it as did King but were stopped by Queen and Crow respectively.

"It would not be wise to rush in, it's just sitting there, it's most likely a trap." Crow advised letting go of King.

"Then how should we go about this?" Mona asked, wiggling free of Queens grasp.

"Check around the area for traps, if we don't see any we then grab it." Queen said, King shook his head.

"We don't have time for this, just grab it." King said striding over and snatching up the key before they could stop him, almost immediately a large cage dropped on top of King trapping him, and shadow's surrounded his friends.

"You idiot! You should have listened to us!" Queen said.

"That was quite foolish of you, and now were surrounded." Crow said calmly.

"King just hold on, I mean not like your going anywhere but you know what I mean!" Mona said.

Cursing his impatience, King tried to lift the cage, however it electrified his fingers making him hiss in pain.

He was trapped, utterly trapped and his friends were surrounded. He made a mistake.

He made a bad mistake.

 **Line break Akira.**

"Here's the cafeteria Joker!" Panther said pointing to the large sign a couple feet away, Joker moved over to it and motioned for everyone to stop.

"Alright, that took longer than it should have, I mean seriously." Joker said.

"Yea but hey, the bright side is that we found the Library key when we ended up in there by accident." Skull said twirling the key in his hands.

"Yea, but that spider shadow will give me nightmares for weeks." Oracle said with a shake.

"Ugh, don't remind me, I swear I almost lost my lunch when I saw it." Panther said.

"I thought it was rather elegant." Fox said.

"If by elegant you mean the way it's thousands of eye's stared your soul away then yes, very elegant." Noir said dryly.

"Oracle, is there anything we need to worry about in here?" Joker asked, a few typing sounds…

"Possibly, I'm getting a lot of blips but they may just be cognitions of humans, or they could be shadows, we could charge in or we could find another way into here, it's your call."

"No way." Skull said. "We already have the library key, there's no way in hell I'm looking for another entrance to a place we've been looking for – for a long ass time." He stalked up to the door and flung it open striding inside, Joker sighed and followed him the rest not far behind.

Inside the cafeteria it looked like a Victorian/ 12th century Viking hall, with several tables full of food with fur seats, however despite what Oracle had said there were no people nor shadows.

However, on one of the tables sat the key the group was looking for in plain sight just waiting to be taken.

"Sweet! It's just asking to be snagged by us." Skull said, moving to grab snag it off the table.

"Skull wait!" Oracle called, too late, as soon as Skull snagged the key a large rope tied itself around his left leg and yanked him up into the air, he barely had time to scream before his face slammed into the ceiling, knocking him out cold, causing him to drop _both_ the keys.

Into the waiting hands of Lucas, or rather, his shadow, who stood there looking up at the unconscious Phantom thief with amusement.

"I cant believe he fell for that, he really is an idiot." Shadow Lucas said.

"Ryuji no!" Panther said forgetting the code name, she sent a withering glare at Shadow Lucas. "You piece of shit! Give us back the key's now!"

"Oh I'm so scared!" Shadow Lucas mocked with a laugh. "Why do all slutty girls have such bad attitudes?"

"Enough of this vile talk!" Fox growled. "Hand over those keys or you will die!"

Shadow Lucas' smile left his face, and he grew serious. "The only one dying today is you! But, not by my hand." He said, he waved his hand and several shadows appeared behind them, flanking them, almost twenty to count.

"I'll make you a deal Phantom Thieves." Shadow Lucas said. "If you can kill all of them, I'll give you these key's back and your friend, but until then, I'm gonna watch while you struggle."

"Joker, what do we do?" Noir asked, voice shaky.

"We don't have a choice, we have to fight them!" He said, "Time to bust out a little something I've been holding until now!"

Joker put his hand to his mask and grinned. "Come forth! Vishnu!"

 **A/N: Boom! Hit ya with that CLIFFHANGER, enjoy this chapter fellas, I sure did.**

 **GLEAMFANG YOUR ALIVEEE, I thought you were dead or something worse! Appreciate the reviews and also, I'm sorry for your frustrations *sob* I struggled a bit writing some of those scenes.**

 **Also, I tried my hand at describing some of the areas in a bit more detail so please let me know how I did, or if I did so bad you want me to go back to how It was before.**

 **Serpent! Thank you so much for your constant reviewing I appreciate it man, I'm glad you noticed the singing part's moral significance.**


	17. Chapter 17

"You dare try to stand against me? You need proper punishment." Joker haughtily said, a wide smirk on his face as he adjusted his gloves.

"You still have Vishnu? How can this be?" Fox said in shock.

"I don't know, but I do know I'm gonna use him to kick some ass!" Joker said launching into battle against the four of the twenty shadow's on his own.

Panther looked to her other teammates. "Are we just gonna let our leader fight alone? Let's kick some ass!" The Phantom thieves let out a war cry and jumped into battle.

Joker stared down the shadow's he was facing, A Berith, Jack-o-lantern and two imps, he smirked. "You are nothing! Ravage them!" He called Vishnu and attacked, instantly killing all of his foes, he looked around to his teammates who were locked in combat themselves.

 _They can handle these small fry_ Joker thought, he looked at Shadow Lucas who was staring right back at him, Joker smirked again. _You._

Joker dashed towards Shadow Lucas and struck, the latter effortlessly evading the strike with the dagger, jumping over him and gracefully landing on his feet.

"Didn't I say I wasn't going to fight you today?" Shadow Lucas said sardonically, looking at Joker.

Joker grinned and held up his hand making Shadow Lucas' eyes widen in genuine surprise, in Joker's hand held both key's, in a single attack Joker managed to snag both key's without Shadow Lucas realizing it.

Shadow Lucas actually laughed. "Hah, hah! I'll be damned, wasn't expecting that!" Shadow Lucas suddenly dashed towards Joker a sword materializing out of thin air as he brought his blade down with lightning speed.

Joker dodged it and lunged with his dagger, stabbing Shadow Lucas in the chest, quickly he yanked the dagger out of his chest and swung upwards, arcing a long cut across Shadow Lucas' body.

"Grah! Damn you bastard!" Shadow Lucas growled, Joker casually twirled his dagger in his hands.

"You are definitely like King, you even suck at fighting in a non-reckless manner." Joker taunted, bringing Shadow Lucas to rage.

"I'll show you reckless!" He growled and changed into his wolf form, he flung at Joker so fast he almost couldn't keep up, but he managed to dodge out of the way just in time.

"Persona!" Joker called, Vishnu coming forth, "Megidolaon!" Joker felt a lot of his energy being sapped, however mysterious white beams started forming out of the air, rapidly striking Shadow Lucas who howled in pain, smoke completely obscuring the shadow.

Suddenly Vishnu disappeared, and he was automatically switched back to Arsene as his Persona, Joker felt really tired suddenly.

 _Seems like I cant use Vishnu for a long period of time, damn that sucks._ Joker thought, suddenly, Shadow Lucas lunged through the smoke, using his wolf form's claw's to hit Joker and send him flying, the force being enough to rattle his bones.

Joker groaned as he got to his knees. _Damn, bastard hit's like a runaway semi-truck._ Joker thought, suddenly Shadow Lucas lunged at him, Joker jumping out of the way just in time.

Shadow Lucas morphed back into his human form. "Not bad, now I'm serious!" Suddenly he appeared behind Joker, and Joker couldn't dodge the punch to the stomach, feeling the breath whoosh out of him, Joker was launched into a marble beam cracking it.

"Pathetic, without that mysterious persona you cant defeat me, you are weak!" Shadow Lucas taunted, Joker coughed in response.

Suddenly, lightning struck Shadow Lucas making him howl (Literally) in pain, Joker looked up to see Skull had regained consciousness and managed to summon his persona while upside down.

"Our leader isn't weak you bastard! But you are!" He yelled from above, Shadow Lucas shaking off the electricity.

"Oh shut up you stupid monkey!" Shadow Lucas said scathingly, ripping a chunk of marble out of the ground and throwing it at Skull, maneuvering his body, Skull twisted himself enough to where the marble hit the robe cutting it in half making him yelp as he fell to the ground.

"Oh man, I'm sick of faceplanting the ground!" Skull complained standing up, Joker got into a fighting stance as well as Skull both ready to defend against their foe.

Shadow Lucas laughed. "Oh please, you couldn't handle me when there was eight of you, how can you defeat me with just two?"

"More like five you piece of trash." Fox said behind him, Shadow Lucas' face briefly changed to a look of shock before smoothing back to his cocky attitude, while Joker was fighting, his friends had defeated the rest of the shadows with ease.

"Hmm, took out the small fry did you? Alright fine, you win this round." Shadow Lucas said, suddenly he launched himself onto a nearby balcony, turning to smirk at the Phantom Thieves.

"You can keep those key's since you took them from me." Shadow Lucas said. "But let me give you a word of advice, you wont prevail, your friend will die, we will win. And when we kill you, we will capture my other and use the shard inside him, including your other friend, Akechi was his name?"

"What are you talking about!" Joker demanded. "What shard! What about Crow?"

"Oh you don't know?" Shadow Lucas asked, genuine surprise on his face. "Your friends have a shard of death inside them, granted we don't know why this is the case."

"Why are you sharing all this information with us?" Noir asked. "Wouldn't this get you in trouble?"

Shadow Lucas blinked once, then spoke: "Because it doesn't matter." He said and disappeared.

"A shard of death herself…. Could that be why Crow still lives?" Fox wondered aloud. "And can Nyx use Crow against us?"

The silence was thick and tense, no one, not even Noir wanted that to be true. "It doesn't matter right now." Ann said suddenly. "We have two key's already! Let's meet back up with the others."

"Right." Futaba said and started pressing buttons on her laptop, her eye's widened in shock in feat suddenly. "Oh no!"

"What? What's going on?" Joker asked, worry pinching his chest.

"They're surrounded by shadow's down there, a lot of them! And it looks like one of them is trapped by something!" She said rapidly tapping buttons on her keyboard.

Joker spun on his heel and dashed off back the way they came, the Phantom Thieves not far behind, as they left on the balcony where Shadow Lucas ran off from stood Christopher, watching as they ran to save their friends.

He grinned to himself. "Ha hah ha, soon my prey… soon I will eat you all."

 **Line break**

"Queen watch out!" Crow called, blocking a fire blast from a shadow while Queen dodged a strike of ice, both jumping back as Morgana landed behind them.

"Manifest." Crow said, calling Robin Hood, "Take them down, Robin hood!" His Persona fired an arrow into one of the shadows, a Jack-o-lantern, killing it, then he pulled out his saber and jumped over another shadow stabbing it in the back, the imp howled in pain before dying.

"I'll use my Persona." Queen said, smirking as her motorcycle Persona appeared under her, she swung with the Persona, slamming into several shadows at once, she revved her engine and suddenly the shadow's she hit exploded.

"Zorro show your might!" Mona yowled, Zorro waving his rapier like a wand, wind in a solid form hitting two shadows killing them.

"Alright, we're kicking ass!" Mona said, smiling as he watched the last four shadow's form a line beside each other, him, Crow and Queen doing the same.

"Well get you out of there soon King, just wait a little longer." Crow said, a grunt from the former being his only response.

King for his part was still stuck in the cage looking thoroughly chastised, which was no surprise, he felt utterly useless at the moment.

 _Probably because I actually am._ King thought, watching as his teammates took out the last few shadow's with ease, the only sound in the room being the heavy breathing of his teammates.

Mona and Queen walked up to his cage, Crow grabbed the key. Queen examining it but not touching it, she locked eyes with King for a brief moment. "Having fun in there?" She asked teasingly.

King groaned which got a laugh out of Queen. "You should have listened to me you know, then you wouldn't be so embarrassed." Not even bothering to hide the smugness in her voice.

"Yea I can see that." King admitted sheepishly. "Don't touch the cage, it doesn't look it but it's electrified."

"I wonder where the source is." Crow wondered, he took his saber and slashed at the chain linking to top of the cage breaking it, he went to touch the cage but hissed in pain as electricity arced up his arm. "Damnit, I guess it wasn't that."

"Look there." Mona pointed. "There's a conduit at his feet, maybe it isn't the cage, but the area around it became electrified due to the metal of the cage?"

"That doesn't make scientific sense to me." Queen said.

"This isn't reality, let's assume the rules of science are different please? Otherwise we'll be here all day." Mona said.

"I'd rather not be stuck in a cage all day." King supplied helpfully.

Crow took his saber and cut open the floor to the left of king, inside was a stream of wires leading off somewhere, using his saber, he cut the wires in two, the cage sparked causing a yelp from King, but when he touched the cage it was no longer electrified.

"Thank god." King said, getting out of the cage. "Thanks for getting me out."

"No problem." Queen and Crow said at the same time, they looked at each other for a moment, a silent look between them before suddenly their friends burst through the door.

"Guy's! Were here, we came to…" Joker trailed off, noticing that it was just them and nothing else.

"We have it under control, it was a little ambush, but we handled it." Queen said with an easy look on her face.

"Oh, okay." Joker said, his eye's lit up when he saw the key in Crow's hand. "You got the key! That makes three!"

"Three?" King echoed.

"We got a little lost and ended up in the library." Oracle explained. "We had to fight this giant spider shadow to escape which gave us the key in the process, then we went and got the key in the cafeteria.

King shivered, he was _terrified_ of spiders.

"Never mind that." Skull said changing the subject. "There's something we need to discuss."

"Now that we have the key, the dangerous presence is gone from this place, seems like it's been turned into a safe room." Oracle said.

"Good, then that means we don't have to find one too talk." Fox said.

"What was it you needed to discuss with us?" Crow asked.

"It's about you and King, something that Shadow Lucas told us." Noir said.

They got comfortable and told the foursome about the encounter with shadow Lucas, and the shards of death inside their bodies.

"These shards… are they the reason Nyx hasn't broken the seal yet?" King theorized.

"Possibly, but we truly don't know anything, maybe those other three will be able to tell us." Fox said.

"You mean Mitsuru, Yukari and Junpei right?" King asked. "They did seem more experienced than all of us, maybe they do know more."

"Crow, you've gone silent." Oracle said. Crow looked up. "What's up?"

Crow hesitated for a moment. "What if Nyx is able to use these shards to… control the person who has them… it's now confirmed she brought me back from the brink of death for a reason… but if she implanted this shard into me… I don't want to think about what she could make me do."

"Like betray us again?" Noir asked bluntly, Crow winced and he clenched his fits.

"I'll kill myself before I let that happen." Crow said, Joker was already shaking his head.

"Not an option." Joker said, "You're our friend now, you've proved that to us in your actions since you've been back."

Crow looked at Joker in awe, then he smiled sadly. "Thank you… Akira."

"Hmph, your welcome, Goro." He responded, a smirk on his face.

"There's something else I want to bring up in fact." Oracle suddenly said, all attention focusing on her.

"When you three were watching the video, I was on the outside listening in with my persona, however there was a lot of interference, I only caught a couple of things, mostly useless except for one thing. Tokashiki. That's the name of mine and King's principal."

"You're implying Tokashiki might be involved in all of this." King said.

Oracle nodded. "I've been doing some digging, apparently there's been discussions through email about some 'organization of despair' between them, I was suspicious of Tokashiki before after reading that but now I'm just about positive he's involved."

"Why does 'organization of despair' sound like something used in a crappy fanfiction?" Skull said.

"Irrelevant." Joker said. "Oracle, did you find anything mentioning shards of death? Shadow Lucas seems to know a lot and he doesn't technically exist."

"I didn't, and before you ask I cant tell how long the shards of death have been inside our two pretty boys."

"We'll just have to wait and see what's in store for us." Crow said darkly.

"My you're all sunshine and rainbows over there." Skull said, Crow grumbled and looked away.

"We should continue on." King said suddenly. "We've got a girl to save and a heart to change." Standing up, King walked to the steps before turning back.

"I don't know about this shard of death stuff, or what could happen to Crow, but whatever happens, happens, simple as that." He said and promptly marched up the steps.

"He goes with the flow almost more than you Joker." Ann said.

"Hah." Joker responded, getting up to follow King, the others following behind him.

Except two, Noir and Crow, the former only stopping because she noticed Crow wasn't moving. "Crow, we're leaving."

No response, Crow continued to sit there hunched over. Noir sighed. "Look, don't worry about it alright? We wont let anything happen to you."

Now Crow did look at her, and the honesty in his eyes shook her to her core. "Thank you, Haru."

 _Oh, that's not fair asshole._ Haru thought, thankful the mask was hiding the flush on her face. "Whatever let's go." She said pivoting on her heel and walking off, Crow not far behind.

At the last second though Crow felt a huge spike of pain in his chest, and he clutched it as he fell to the ground, as he gasped in pain he heard a voice in his head, female.

" _You will be mine, there's a cost to my assistance, you will pay it, for now though, enjoy the power that I have placed inside you and remember who owns you now."_ It said.

Abruptly, the pain stopped, however Crow was left shaken.

 _No! I knew it! She did something to me! She controls me…_ Crow thought, he savagely forced the thoughts out of his mind.

"I hope… there's a way to counteract this…" He said to himself and continued on.

 **A/N: Short chapter. Tired. Sleepy. Enjoy**


	18. Chapter 18

Pain spiked in King's head as the world briefly shifted back to reality, the third floor of the castle turning back into what it was in it's corporeal form, this time long enough to analyze it.

Wait a minute… King recognized this place, the wooden floors, the potted plant's lying around, it was… his home… Did that mean that Christopher's cognition changed his own home into a castle, a place where he rules and kills?

King really didn't want to think about that.

"King you okay?" Skull said waving his hands in front of his face, the cognition re consuming his vision, returning to the Victorian style hallway, the disturbing tapestry's of dead people along with the red carpet leading them to their next destination.

The king's room.

"I'm fine." King responded rubbing his eyes'. "Just tired."

"Don't push yourself." Panther said. "We need you at as much strength as possible."

"Hate to interrupt but the kings room is coming up on our right." Oracle said.

The group walked around the corner just to immediately backpedal, standing in front of the King's room were two shadow guards, they hid behind the wall to discuss the plan.

"Alright how should we go about this, we could fight them head on or lure them away." Queen suggested peaking out.

"There's only two guards though." King pointed out. "There's ten of us, we could take them down."

"No." Joker shook his head. "Too many of us fighting at once will cause us some major clutter, this hall is big, but not big enough, we should send at least four or five people after them."

"I'll nominate myself, I haven't really done much so far." King said.

"Obviously the fifth person is me, I can navigate you all." Oracle said.

"I'm the leader so I'm going." Joker said.

"That's three, I'll hop in which makes four." Crow said.

"I'll put my axe through there skulls." Noir said, everyone sweat dropped at her choice of words but there was no argument.

"Alright, so it's me, King, Crow and Noir fighting, Oracle do your thing, on my mark."

The ones not fighting made way for the one's who were. "Grim Reaper." King mumbled.

Crow suddenly felt a sharp burn in his chest, but managed to contain the groan of pain. "R-ready." He managed out.

"I'm ready to fight." Noir said.

"Alright." Joker said, suddenly he jumped out and dashed towards the shadows at lightning speed, everyone else ran out behind him as he jumped onto one of the shadow's shoulders, he grabbed one of their faces.

"I'll reveal your true form!" Joker said and King's jaw dropped as he literally ripped the face off of the shadow.

Suddenly Crow rushed forward to the other shadow and stabbed it in the chest making it drop to his knees, he grabbed the mask of the shadow as well, yanking it off.

Both shadow's dissipated into a pool of red and black, however they reformed into two knights on red horses looking slightly dazed.

"Alright let's do this!" Joker said. "Ravage them! Arsene!" A burst a black energy hit the right shadow hard however it still lived.

Noir attacked next, instead of using her Persona she rushed forward and slammed her axe into the ground using the momentum to drive a corkscrew kick into the same shadow's face, then she used the momentum from the kick to propel herself back over to her starting position.

 _That was actually pretty bad ass._ King thought. "My turn." He said and stepped forward.

"Reap their souls! Grim Reaper!" He commanded, Grim Reaper sent out a burst of needles sticking into the injured shadow, which howled in pain before dying in a larger burst which knocked the surviving shadow out of balance.

"Baton passing!" King said and slapped hands with Crow, Crow stepped forward but suddenly he collapsed in pain.

"AGH! UGH, shi-" Crow exclaimed in agony, suddenly he started screaming as a black aura formed around him.

"Goro!" Joker yelled, grabbing his friends shoulder, the shadow took this opportunity to charge, spinning his halberd and stabbing out.

Suddenly the black aura around Crow exploded outward, pushing Joker off his feet and pushing the shadow back, Crow dragged himself to his feet, his mask slipped off his face, his eyes turning a blood red.

Crow held his hand out and grinned, "Tear him to shreds, Lucifer!" he commanded, a muscular black demon with six wings and clawed hands, with two large horns sprouting from his head.

That Persona grabbed the horse and the rider and squeezed, making it explode into a pool of black and red mist, suddenly Crow groaned and collapsed again, and Lucifer transformed into Robin hood before dissipating.

Everyone stood in a shocked silence for a long time, the only sound being Crow's heavy breathing.

"What… what the hell was that?" Skull asked, his voice shaky.

Crow shook his head. "I… I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?" Panther said, "You just summoned the prince of hell! I thought you said you lost your wild card ability."

"I did!" Crow protested. "I don't know where that came from, there was just a sudden _burning_ in my chest, and he came out! It felt like I wasn't in control of my own body…"

Suddenly he let out a sob, and any anger that they felt was drained by the pitiful sounds coming from Crow, Joker came over and put a hand on his shoulder, He took a deep breath and composed himself. "Let's retreat for the day, we found the king's room, were all tired, and tensions our high, we'll get nothing done at this rate, we need to gather our thoughts."

"I agree." King said, Joker helped Crow to his feet, and they walked back to the safe room to leave the metaverse, Lucas felt briefly dizzy as the world returned to normal, the fatigue suddenly catching up with him in spades.

They found themselves in Akira's room, the attic space being big enough to hold them all, after everyone was settled in the room descended into a long silence, Lucas looked at his phone and his mouth went dry.

"Oh crap." He said, and Yusuke looked at him curiously.

"What seems to be the matter?" He asked, Lucas didn't respond immediately.

"48 missed calls, 53 texts, from my uncle." He said. "It's fucking 5:32 in the morning, oh my god he might actually kill me."

"If he did he'd be arrested for murder." Ann said.

"Which is what we wants, so maybe we should let him kill ya." Ryuji said, the others looked at him in shock but the shit-eating grin on his face let everybody know it was a joke.

"A-anyway." Makoto said, she looked at Akechi. "How're you holding up Akechi?"

Akechi didn't respond for a moment, but when he did his voice was calm. "I'm worried, but I'm fine, I already have an idea as to why I summoned the prince of hell instead of Robin hood."

"What are you thinking?" Futaba asked.

"Nyx spoke in my mind when we were leaving the safe room the first time, that's when the burning pain started, she said that I will be hers and that there was a cost to her saving my life two years ago… She also said to enjoy the power she placed inside me, which I'm assuming is the shard of herself."

"So what are you saying? That Nyx took away your wild card ability just to give it back?" Morgana questioned.

"There's a lot more to this than just that… I fear that maybe she may force me to betray you again… just like Okumura-san implied." Akechi said, a troubled look in his eyes.

The tension in the room was so thick you could cut it with a sword, everyone was silent and contemplative, save for the tapping of Ryuji's foot.

Suddenly Akira stood up, his hands in his pockets. "We cant let that happen to you, your one of us now for better or worse." He declared, the honesty in his voice premating throughout the entire room.

Ann stood up. "He's right, you've done horrible things but you don't deserve this fate."

Ryuji stood next. "I still have issues with you at time's I'll admit, but… you deserve a second chance."

Next was Yusuke. "I agree, your strength and intelligence is pivotal to us."

Makoto. "How can I shun my rival? And my friend."

"I hardly know you." Lucas said. "But I don't have any right to judge anyone about their past when mine is filled with my own issues."

"You've suffered for a long time, I accept you Akechi." Morgana said.

Futaba stood up next. "Your murdered my mother, I cant deny that and I don't think you will either, however I've also learned that you were forced to do it, you were desperate to be loved by anyone even if it was someone you hated, you were trapped with no way out… I forgive you."

Everyone looked towards Haru, it was obvious that she still distrusted Akechi and she had ample reason to, but hearing everyone's words, seeing the pure fear and honesty in Akechi's face did something to her.

She locked eye's with Akechi and nodded once. "I forgive you, Futaba's right. You deserve… one more chance."

Then Akechi started crying, not sadness, tears of pure gratefulness, he hated crying, he couldn't remember the last time he cried but right now he didn't care, because he finally felt what he had desired his entire life.

Friendship, it took awhile to compose himself, but when he did he was smiling more genuinely than he had in a long time.

"There's something that's bugging me now that I think about it." Futaba began. "If Nyx is doing what she's doing to Akechi because of the shard of herself in his body, then why isn't she doing the same to Lucas?"

"Perhaps it's because of his wildcard ability? And the fact that he's supposedly a special type of wild card." Akira said.

"I thought we already established that I'm special because I can use two persona's at once?" Lucas asked.

"That's true." Makoto said. "But we don't know if that's the only reason why your special."

"Special is bad, I don't like being special." Lucas deadpanned.

"Well tough cause you are." Ryuji said. "And we have to find out what exactly makes you that special."

"Maybe it's cause of my beautiful looks?" Lucas quipped smirking, everyone rolled their eyes.

"I think we should all go home and get some rest." Morgana said. "Were going back tomorrow-err- later on today, so we should rest up as much as we can."

At the notion of rest all the Phantom Thieves suddenly looked noticeably tired including Lucas who let out a big yawn. "Your right, if Christopher doesn't murder me when I get back I'll see you tomorrow." He said while standing up.

"I'll head back too, it's a bit of a walk to get there but I'll make it." Akechi said.

"Where do you even live anyway?" Yusuke asked.

"A homeless shelter." Akechi answered casually causing a cascade of for reals and what's.

"Dude you should really rent an apartment or something." Ryuji said, Akechi just shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't have the money, and besides I'm dead." He said and with that he left Leblanc.

"I'll see you all later." Haru waved and left as well, Yusuke not far behind.

"Welp, I'm going home. Ann, Lucas. You comin'?" Ryuji said, and the three of them left leaving Akira, Morgana and Makoto alone.

Akira turned to Makoto and put his hand on her waist. "The train for you wont be coming by here till ten, do you want to sleep here with me?" He asked tentatively.

Makoto smiled and pulled him into a kiss making Akira's body melt. "I'd like that." She said, Morgana made gagging noises in the background but slept on the couch while Makoto and Akira took the bed.

 **Line break**

"Yo uncle, I'm home!" Lucas called, wincing a bit at the echo the silent house gave off. Lucas waited a couple heartbeats then called out again.

Lucas checked his phone, the most recent text was only twenty minutes ago, could his uncle have gone to the police?

The loud snap of a light made Lucas freeze on the spot, with a sense of foreboding he slowly turned to face the noise, in the doorway to the kitchen stood his uncle, he looked terrible, like he hadn't slept which was most likely the case for the situation, his face was covered in stubble, his cheeks sunken in.

He looked terrifying, and angry. "You little bastard…" Christopher growled out, his voice barely above a whisper sending chills down Lucas' spine and he couldn't help but take a step back.

Christopher took a step forward, Lucas was suddenly reminded just how powerless he was in reality, in the metaverse he could fight back, but right now he was up against a full-blown serial killer without a way to defend himself.

Lucas opened his mouth to speak, but with shocking speed Christopher grabbed Lucas by the throat with his left hand and started choking him, he reared back with his right hand and rocketed a punch into Lucas' stomach.

With a strength that surprised Lucas, Christopher threw Lucas into a wall cracking the wall, the latter falling to his knees coughing, he felt a wetness in his throat that he prayed wasn't blood.

"You think…" A kick to the stomach, sending Lucas sprawling onto his back. "That you can…" A hard stomp on his leg and a sharp cry of pain. "Defy me!?" a kick to Lucas' head nearly sent him to oblivion.

Christopher suddenly backed up, and Lucas forced himself to get to one knee, he felt dripping from his nose and saw droplets of blood hitting the floor in front of his vision.

Lucas felt agony as Christopher rocked his jaw with a left hook, however he no longer had the strength to cry out, not even when Christopher grabbed Lucas' unruly hair and yanked him up to where they were face to face. In the mixture of the blood in his nose Lucas was sure he smelled alcohol.

"You ever pull a stunt like this again and it will get worse you little shit." Christopher growled, and threw Lucas like a ragdoll, the latter tumbling down into a heap, Christopher moved into the kitchen and shortly after came out with his coat draped around him. "I'm going out, I wont be back until whenever, you tell anyone about this…" He trailed off, then shook his head with a smirk. "You get the picture."

Lucas barely heard that, he also barely heard the slam of the door letting Lucas know he was alone. Lucas tried to move but every inch of his body was a screaming barrel of agony, he coughed a bit into his hand, and was horrified to see splatters of blood on it.

 _Son of a bitch… I might have internal bleeding. I really might die this time…_ Lucas thought, a sudden fear gripped his pain filled chest at the idea of his impending doom, suddenly he found himself in the throes of desire, the desire to live.

Lucas had spent the last couple of months after his mother and fathers death wanting to die, and now when he suddenly might get that respite, he found he no longer wanted it. The fucking Irony.

"It…. Cant… end… like this…." He gasped out, each breath bringing more pain, he felt fluid in his lungs and coughed again, he didn't need his hand to know that was blood.

He somehow managed to roll himself onto his stomach, he desperately looked for his phone, not to call an ambulance no… he didn't know the Japanese version of 911 anyway if it was different, and he knew they wouldn't make it in time if he really was bleeding internally.

He couldn't call Akira, he couldn't do anything anyway but call an ambulance which would just be redundant.

No, his only option was a high-risk potentially high-reward idea, and if he failed… he would die, hell he might die anyway.

Lucas' spotted his phone in the far corner, it was knocked out of his hand when Christopher grabbed his throat, he started the slow, agonizing crawl his body screaming at him to stop, the sweet release of death creeping it's way throughout his body.

 _All injuries… sustained in the metaverse, heal when exiting_ Lucas thought, the simple strain of doing just that almost too much for him at the moment. _What if… what if it also works the other way around, what if injuries sustained in the real world… heal when entering the metaverse?_

It was his only chance. He grabbed his phone, his vision blurred, and black spots danced everywhere, breathing heavily, he pressed the nav app on his phone.

" **Begin navigation?"** The robotic voice asked, Lucas opened his mouth to speak, but found he suddenly couldn't anymore, actually he couldn't see either.

The phone slipped from Lucas' hand, his fingers dragging across the screen.

And his vision went black.

 **A/N: I have resigned myself to write smaller chapters on the weekends due to me also having a job, I am only a part-timer after all, and since I just graduated high school I have more time to do things than I know what to do with.**

 **For now though enjoy this cliff hanger! I feel like I did well on the last part, lemme know what you all think!"**

 **Shout out's to gleamfang and serpent for consistently reviewing my story! Much appreciated and I hope to keep pleasing you. I want you all to tell me what you think of how I'm pacing everything? Do you think I'm moving to slow? To fast? Just right? I'm always open to suggesting via review or PM.**


	19. Chapter 19

King groaned as he sat up, pain racking throughout his body, he blinked away the spots in his vision and briefly surveyed his surroundings.

 _The white walls… the balconies and red carpets, the giant portrait of my uncle hanging over the door, I'm in the metaverse definitely._ King thought.

"Guess my theory worked…" He mumbled, groaning as he pushed himself to his feet. "I'm… so tired though, I don't even think I could use my persona…"

"Wait…" King thought suddenly. "I'm in the metaverse… but I'm not in the saferoom. Why am I out in the main hall?"

The eerie silence made King's skin crawl. "Doesn't matter I guess, it seems my injuries are healed, when I get back I have to tell the others when we meet up again and…." King trailed off as he felt around his pockets.

"Where's my phone?" King thought, panic starting to rise up within him as he realized it wasn't with him. "What happened to my phone!?"

It suddenly all came back to him at once, he remembered passing out and dropping the phone as he transported, and because he didn't have his phone when going in… it wouldn't be with him…

Which meant he was trapped in the metaverse.

"Ahh, if it isn't a lost little lamb." A deep distorted voice said, King whipped around, on a nearby catwalk leading to a different part of the castle stood the distorted shadow that was his uncle.

"Who said I'm lost?" King countered, fighting to keep his voice even, his body suddenly crying in phantom agony.

"Oh I know a lost sheep when I see one." Shadow Christopher said, suddenly, he teleported in front of Christopher about ten feet away, that horrible wolfish smirk on his face, suddenly Christopher sniffed a single long sniff, then literally started howling with laughter.

When he was finished he looked at King with madness in his eyes. "You are tired, and weak." He said, then snapped his fingers, suddenly four shadows appeared in front of Christopher. "Capture him alive."

The shadow's all exploded into a pool of black wicked, all turning into golden knights with demon wings, King manifested his scythe, glaring at his foes, he could sense the power they possessed and did not like his chances.

"These are four of my elite servants, they're called the heavenly punishers." Christopher said, and leaped up, landing on top of the second-floor railing. "Enjoy."

The heavenly punishers charged all at once, and King jumped out of the way of the swings of their blades, he landed back on his feet stumbling a bit before regaining his balance and summoning his Persona.

"Nobunaga! Lead me to victory!" He called, Oda Nobunaga arose behind King, however King to his own despair found he couldn't attack with the Persona, he was just to tired too, being sleep deprived and fighting in the dark hour and Palace in the same night.

Cursing, he dismissed his Persona and struck out with his scythe, bringing it down hard on one of the heavenly punishers, to his luck he knocked the shadow down, quickly King drew his handgun and emptied his clip into the shadow killing it.

"Hah!" King taunted, jumping back again and breathing heavily. "What was that about elite servants bastard?" He taunted Shadow Christopher.

The latter let out a bellowing laugh, giving pause to King. "What the hells so funny?" He demanded, grunting as he ended up in a lock with one of the heavenly punishers.

"I must admit, I am impressed, but that will make turning you all the sweeter." Shadow Christopher said.

 _Turning me?_ King thought, big mistake, the heavenly punisher took the moment of weakness from King to attack, hitting king hard sending him into a pillar.

King groaned as he stood up, switching Persona's and weapons. "Orpheus!" He called, manifesting his straight sword with the switch, King's vision went blurry for a few seconds and his breaths came in shallow gasps, but he still rushed one of the shadows anyway.

The shadow swung his sword with a loud cry, King sliding between it's legs at the last second coming out behind it, gripping the sword with both hands he growled as he brought the blade down the shadows back, the later howling in rage as it recklessly thrashed with his sword.

King leaned back barely managing to keep his balance as another shadow struck from the side, King parried the strike however the third heavenly punisher suddenly struck from above, forcing King to block from above, their swords clashed, the force of the swing cracking the ground around King and forcing him to one knee, King forced the sword off of him making it slam into the ground, making the shadow get the blade stuck in it, then he hopped onto the arm of the shadow and ran up it's arm blade ready.

At the last second the Shadow freed it weapon from the ground and flung his arm upwards, King while spinning in the air switched to his scythe and threw it like a boomerang, the speed of the weapon piercing through the Shadow killing it.

While he was falling the scythe came back to him, and King while falling brought the scythe down on the heavenly punisher that was under him, piercing his head and killing it, using his momentum King flung himself off the disappearing Shadow's corpse, switching to his Katana and stabbing the last heavenly punishers face, ripping his blade out with a yell he cut half of it's head off killing it.

King landed on the floor and instantly collapsed to his knees taking desperate gulps of air, trying to get air in his lungs. The adrenaline that helped him do those actions rapidly draining from his body.

"You… Like that… you piece… of shit?" He panted, looking up at his distorted uncle, who was smirking right back at him.

"Now I really am impressed." Shadow Christopher said and teleported back to ground level. "But… you didn't really think that was all the guards I had right?" Christopher snapped his fingers.

All around King shadow's popped up, about thirty in number, King didn't even bother trying to stand, he couldn't. He was completely drained.

"Take him alive, to the conversion room." Shadow Christopher said, King felt his eyelids get heavy, and he fell unconscious before the shadow's got to him.

 **Line Break**

Akira was walking around Yongen Jaya, well, not walking around. He had a destination he was headed too, he just was walking slow.

Eventually, he came up to a familiar clinic far off in the backstreets of the small neighborhood, rolling his shoulders to fold any anxiety he strolled into the place, his sense briefly being assaulted by chemicals.

Inside Akira found who he was looking for, a punk rock doctor with dyed dark blue hair that also wore a spiked choker, she was currently busy with a middle schooler, the seventh or eighth grade that had brown pigtails and a toothy grin.

"Alright Miwa-chan, everything checks out sweet heart, you can go home now." The bluenette said smiling the brightest smile that Akira could remember her ever having.

"Thanks doctor Takemi!" The girl said smiling and skipped out of the office.

"That girl was Miwa-chan huh?" Akira said, the woman freezing as she looked at him.

The look of shock on her face quickly changed to a small, but genuine smile. "Well, well. When did you arrive back in the city, my little guinea pig?" Tae Takemi said.

"Hmph, that beautiful smile the same as ever Tae?" Akira quipped in response.

Tae just rolled her eyes. "Since when did you get the balls to call me by my first name? Your Phantom thieve escapades two years ago?" She teased.

"Nope, more like around the time I turned nineteen a couple months ago." He joked back. "But seriously, I've only been back for like a week if that."

"It's march 27th now so… eh whatever not like it matters." Tae said, she sat down on a nearby stool and crossed her legs, intentionally showing off more skin than she needed too.

Akira forced himself to keep his face level. _I love Makoto, truly. But_ _ **hoo boy**_ _does Tae still look good for her age._ He thought, blinking the thoughts out of his mind. _Focus you dumbass and stop hoo boying like Sojiro._

"So, what brings you here? I know it's not just to see me, I don't do booty calls." Tae said with a smirk, however that didn't stop her from openly appraising his figure.

"Medicine." Akira stuttered out, suddenly feeling very hot. "I need medicine, to put it shortly, the Phantom Thieves need your skills again."

Tae tensed up for a brief moment, then smirked again, however this time her eyes were a bit softer. "You guy's gonna kill a god again?" She asked.

"May~be." Akira said in a sing song voice, twisting his hair. Tae rolled her eyes but stood up and walked behind her counter.

"Head into the exam room lover boy, I'll be right with you." She said, Akira nodded and opened the door beside him, smiling as the memories flooded through him.

"What are you smiling at?" Tae asked, walking in behind him and sitting down at her desk. "Sit." Akira sat.

"Nothing, just feeling nostalgic." Akira admitted smiling, Tae looked at him smirking.

"Oh I remember." She said, her voice taking on a sultry tone. "All those… long afternoons of just… us." She said flirtatiously, then laughing at her own joke.

Akira suddenly wished he had his glasses still to hide behind from the flirty jokes Tae always made. _Still, it's good to see these past two years haven't changed her much_. He thought.

"So what do you need anyway? Since you are starting your Phantom Thieves work again." Tae asked.

"The best you got." He said.

"Oh I'll give you my best." Tae said in a voice like silk. Akira sighed, knowing he walked right into that, the shady doctor stood up and walked over to a nearby cabinet, opening and grabbing a random assortment of items.

"So." Akira began. "That girl was Miwa-chan?" Tae froze for a brief moment, then closed the cabinet and sat back down, tossing him a bag which he effortlessly caught.

"Yup, that's my smiling baby." Tae said, her voice full of unmistakable pride.

Akira grinned. "So she's cured then?"

Tae shook her head. "Nope, not yet, however in just a few short weeks she will be, and I'll finally get to see her smile."

"I thought you already got to see her smiling though?"

"Yes, but I want to see the smile that will light up Shibuya during a blackout when I tell that girl she's cured of Crawford-Ende's disease."

Akira chuckled. "You love that little girl don't you?" He teased, Tae sent a withering glare at him.

"Take your medicine and get out." She said. "On the house this one time, think of it as a… welcome back gift."

"Right." Akira said and grinned. "Thanks Tae." He left through the door, Tae waited to hear the jingling of the front door bells before she let out a sigh.

"I swear… if that boy was single." She mumbled to herself, letting the implications of her thoughts drift away as she got back to work, spirits lifted by the sight of him.

 **Line break**

Haru Okumura was annoyed, mostly at herself, she spent literally two hours looking for it but she finally found it.

That's not what she was annoyed by though, after all it was the only homeless shelter in all of Shibuya, what she was annoyed by was the fact that she couldn't understand quite _why_ she was looking for it.

Okay, that's a lie, she knew _exactly_ why she was looking for it, but didn't want to admit it.

It was a run down place, it clearly needed a serious paintjob, the white paint chipping off the walls revealing molded wood behind it, the trashcans surrounding the front entrance, a broken chain link fence around the building as a whole, it looked horrible, as Haru walked closer the stench of trash marauded her senses making her gag, however that didn't stop her from grabbing the door and opening it, shaking at the chills the screeching metal sent down her spine.

Haru felt immense relief when she saw no one was there, except for the bored receptionist lady at the front desk, who was texting on her phone, Haru walked up to the women and cleared her throat, gathering her attention.

The woman sighed and looked up. "What?" She asked rather rudely, clearly annoyed by the interruption.

Haru decided it was best to keep her manners intact, at least for now. "I am looking for a man about my age, chin length brown hair, he was wearing a brown hoodie and dark ripped jeans when I last saw him.

The woman stared blankly at Haru before sighing, and turning to her computer, a short few clicks later and the woman turned back around. "I know who you're talking about." The woman said, Haru felt immense relief. "But he left a while ago, the homeless people aren't allowed in here during day time, I'm only here to watch out for people trying to sneak in and squat."

Haru couldn't imagine many people wanting to squat in a place that looked like this, but refrained from speaking that aloud, instead she gave a slight bow. "Thank you very much ma'am, uh, do you have any idea where he could be?"

"Sorry ma'am, I have no idea where you're boyfriend is and why he's here in the first place, although someone that looks like him? He may be at the diner at this time, a lot of girls there." She said.

"He's not my boyfriend." Haru corrected prompting a raised eyebrow from the woman. "He's just a friend, good day ma'am." Haru gave one more bow, pivoted on her heel and walked out the homeless shelter, holding her breath as she walked by the trashcans, after she made it to street level she sighed again.

"That woman said the diner, I cant imagine Akechi being there when he's supposed to be dead, and has no money, but I might as well check it out." Haru mumbled while walking.

Shortly after she arrived at the diner, upon walking in she surveyed the area for a brief moment, she was about to leave when she caught a mass of long brown hair in a corner booth.

 _Huh, he's actually here?_ Haru thought with some shock, she walked over to him and briefly balked.

It was definitely him, but his crowning disguise were rectangular glasses not unlike the ones Akira used to wear, along with colored contacts, his normally brown eyes changed to blue, he was drinking a coffee and reading a paperback book, completely oblivious to the world around him, including some of the girls nearby admiring him, either that or he was just ignoring them.

 _It suits him..._ Haru thought, _but it's a horrible disguise, are people just that stupid nowadays?_

Haru, shaking her head walked over and sat down in the seat opposite him startling him out of his book, causing the glasses to tilt off his face slightly, the sight bringing a giggle out of Haru.

"O-Okumura-san?" Akechi asked with no small amount of surprise, pushing the glasses back on his face. "What are you doing here?"

"Uh, it's a diner? I can be here." Haru responded.

"N-no of course you can, but I mean why are you here with me when…" He trailed off.

 _When I hate you? Truly, I don't know myself why I searched for you_. Haru thought, however that's not what she said.

"I figured we should bury the hatchet and start anew." Haru said, ordering a coffee from the waitress that came over.

"Considering the weapon that you use in the metaverse, do you mean in my skull or…?" Akechi trailed off again, the remark bringing a full laugh out of Haru.

"No, I figure as teammates, and maybe even friends." Haru said and was shocked by the honesty in her statement, she was supposed to hate him, but found that she… couldn't anymore, every time she tried she kept going back to how he was in Leblanc last night, crying at the idea of harming or betraying everyone again.

"Okay so no buying helmets yet." Akechi quipped, closing his book and setting it to the side. "Anything you want to talk about?"

Haru thought for a brief moment then a lightbulb went off in her head. "Your living situation." She said, taking a sip of the coffee the waitress brought over.

Akechi now looked confused. "What's wrong with my living situation?"

Haru's jaw dropped. "Are you serious?" She asked, Akechi raised an eyebrow. "You live in a homeless shelter!"

"Don't be so loud…" Akechi said, blushing a bit from embarrassment. "Why are you so concerned about it? I'm used to it."

Haru slammed her hands on the table and stood up, taking some money out of her purse she threw it on the table, grabbed Akechi's hand and yanked him out of his seat, the shocked noise coming out of him bringing supreme pleasure to Haru's ears.

"Wh-what the hell?" Akechi said. "What are you doing, Okumura-san!?"

She whirled on him and froze briefly as she found herself with her face nearly buried in his chest, she took a deep breath instinctually and was assaulted by a wonderful smell.

 _Lotus…. That's… my favorite_ Haru thought, shaking her head Haru took a step back and cleared her throat to compose herself. "You're coming with me, so we can get you appropriate accommodations." She turned and continued pulling him along, ignoring the whispers of the other patrons.

 **Line Break**

Akira paced back in forth in the attic, the other members of the Phantom thieves all present except for one.

"Where the hell is Lucas?" Akira said aloud running his left hand through his hair he checked his phone, the texts he sent to his American friend still not even read.

"Hey, couldn't he just still be asleep?" Ryuji asked.

"Yea but for that long?" Futaba said.

"Keep in mind that you slept for eleven straight days Futaba." Makoto said.

"That was different and you know it… Hey Ryuji, what if the joke you made became… not Jokey?"

Akira stopped moving at that.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Ann asked.

"Y-you know, about his uncle… killing him?" Futaba said

"O-oh." Ryuji said.

"C-clearly we have not thought about this properly." Yusuke said.

"…I'm going to check on him." Akira said. "I've seen where he lives it's barely two minutes, _something_ happened."

"I'll come with you." Akechi said stepping forward. "Better to not be alone."

Akira nodded. "The rest of you wait here, be ready to head in when we get back with Lucas." He said, false optimism in his voice.

Akira and Akechi just about ran to his house, when they got there Akira started getting a bad feeling in his stomach. "Something's wrong." He said to Akechi.

Akechi walked up and knocked on the door once, only once because the door was open, and broken, Akechi looked back at Akira who came forward, they both walked into the dark house, the only light being the streams coming from the moon in the doorway.

"Lucas?" Akira called out, his voice small. "Are you there?"

"That's not horror movie at all." Akechi said.

"Shut up Akechi."

They looked around in the darkness before a red glow caught Akechi's eye. "Leader, over here." He said.

Akira walked over and saw the red glow; the bad feeling suddenly getting a lot worse. He picked up the glowing object. "This is… Lucas' phone… why is the meta nav open?" He wondered aloud.

"Did our American friend go into the metaverse by himself?" Akechi theorized. "That would be suicide, and how'd he leave his phone? Something doesn't add up." Akechi began feeling around the walls, and sighed with relief suddenly. "A light switch."

The adults were briefly blinded by the sudden light, but when their visions came back to them bile rose in Akira's throat.

Blood, a lot of blood, splattered on the ground and the walls. Spots of blood that led to the phone Akira picked up.

Akechi looked utterly disturbed. "Holy crap… did Christopher really try to kill his own nephew? Is Lucas even still alive after this? Assuming Christopher didn't use a weapon, a beating of this magnitude had to damage the inside of the body, causing internal bleeding."

"Akechi be quiet!" Akira said his mind whirring. _Think Akira THINK. Why is the meta nav active even when Lucas isn't with the phone itself. Piece it together._ Akira walked over to where the assumed start was.

 _If Lucas didn't fall unconscious, why'd he crawl over there to use the meta nav? To escape? From his uncle long enough? No, this much damage he wouldn't be able to move fast enough, so why? Unless… the phone was knocked out of his hand when he was first attacked. With this much blood, Lucas should barely have been able to move, if so he must have searched for his phone, presumably after his uncle had left, which was over there, he must have crawled over there to retrieve the phone._ Akira thought while walking back over to where the phone was.

"What are you thinking?" Akechi asked while crouching down, Akira held up a hand for silence.

 _How'd his phone not go with him when he entered the metaverse? Wait… the blood… him barely being conscious…_ Akira's eyes widened.

It played out in his mind like a slideshow. Lucas crawling over, he opened the app, he entered the palace, via speaking or pressing the button then passed out, dropping the phone, leaving it behind.

 _But why not just call an ambulance?_ Akira thought, then it hit him, _Akechi said internal bleeding, if that was true the ambulance wouldn't make it in time, Lucas must have known this, hell he probably doesn't even know the Japanese version of 911, but why enter the metaverse?_

Akira gasped. "I get it!" He said, Akechi looked at him.

"You figured it out too?"

"When we exit the metaverse all our injuries sustained there heal automatically, he must have got the idea that all injuries sustained in reality will heal when entering the metaverse!" Akira said, Akechi nodded.

"Which is an impressive deduction considering the desperation of the situation he was in." Akechi acknowledged. "The only thing is that he passed out and lost grip on his phone after activating the nav which could only mean…" Akechi trailed off.

They locked eyes with each other. "Lucas is trapped in the metaverse… alone." Akira finished.

They both sprinted out of Lucas' home, Akira making sure to grab the formers phone. _We have to get in the metaverse fast!_

 **Line Break**

The loud whirring of the machine finally stopped, and Shadow Christopher grinned as he was finally finished, it took a lot of patience, but it worked.

"Wake up, nephew, those interlopers are coming." He said, shaking his successful experiment awake.

Lucas shook his head as he woke up and rubbed his eyes, he looked up at his uncle with deadened eyes. No emotions at all.

"Do you wish me to kill them, uncle?" the boy spoke in a monotonous voice, Shadow Christopher grinned, _The brainwashing worked!_ He thought in triumph.

He looked at the fake version of Lucas, what was it the interlopers called him? Shadow Lucas? He looked utterly disturbed, Shadow Christopher sighed, he'd have to take care of that later.

"Yes, it should be easy, seeing their once friend fight for the shadows, I have bestowed you with some new powers that you might find to your liking." He finally said to Lucas.

Lucas grinned, but it wasn't a real one, it was a grin of pure savagery. "I can feel it, the ability to control shadows, this power, along with my three persona, this shouldn't be hard at all."

"Good, now go, I command you to wait on the other side of the locked door, right in front of my treasure, those interlopers will no longer meddle in MY world.

"Yes, uncle." He said, getting up and walking out of the conversion room. Shadow Christopher waited a few heartbeats before glancing sidelong at the fake.

"What is your problem?" He asked, the threat unmistakable in his voice, Shadow Lucas looked up and schooled his features back to their normal look.

"Nothing at all uncle, just surprised it worked, I didn't think my other would go down that easily." Shadow Lucas said.

Shadow Christopher suddenly slammed his hand down on a table hard enough to dent it, sending a chill down Shadow Lucas' spine. "He didn't _go down_ easily at all! He took out four of my elite guards, even I was surprised."

"But it's no matter." Shadow Christopher said. "He's under my control now." He glanced at Shadow Lucas again. "What are you standing there doing nothing for go wait with him!"

"Y-yes uncle." Shadow Lucas said and hurried out, leaving Shadow Christopher alone.

"Yes… these trifling matters will be over soon." Shadow Christopher said.

But for now he had to wait.

 **A/N: Oh no! Another cliffhanger! LOL, hope you all enjoy this chapter, I personally loved writing the entire thing, my favorite being the scene with Tae Takemi and Akira.**

 **Gleamfang and Serpent, thanks for your reviews! Curse thine cliffhanger curse thee!**


	20. Chapter 20

"Were not in the saferoom? That's a bad omen." Fox said looking around.

"Were back in the main hall, we should assume the same happened to King." Mona said.

"We have to find him quickly, he cant handle this by himself." Queen said.

"Look, the six keyed door, it's still not open, so that means King's somewhere here right?" Skull said.

"That would be the safe assumption." Crow said.

"If he came here, and going back to what Shadow Lucas said about him and Crow… then they want to capture him alive." Joker said.

"The dungeon!" Panther said. "What if he's locked in the dungeon with Shiho!?"

"Then we have to go now and save him and get Shiho!" Noir said.

"But the dungeon is on the third floor, and well… we don't know where it is." Skull said.

"A map would be best… but we haven't found one." Fox said.

"No need really." Oracle interrupted, "I have this entire castle mapped out thanks to my Persona and let me tell you this thing is the pinnacle of looking bigger than it actually is."

"What do you mean?" Mona asked.

"What I mean is once we get through that door, there's a flight of stairs leading up to the throne room where I'm pretty sure the treasure is, the other floors are just superficial, useless cognitive products basically."

"That's… disappointing, I was expecting more from a serial killer." Crow said.

"Well, murder is probably the only thing on his mind to be honest, doesn't leave much room for imagination." Queen said.

"Now that I think about it, couldn't we just call the police and have them arrest King's uncle? I mean he did nearly kill him and there's blood splatters all over the walls and floor if what you guys told us is true." Panther said to Crow and Joker.

"It would be redundant." Crow told her.

"I don't follow."

"What he means." Queen began. "Is that he's a lawyer despite being a serial killer, he's most likely a very, very good liar, there's a strong possibility that he'd be able to twist the situation around in his favor if we did go that route."

"Oh…" Panther said.

"Back to the subject at hand." Futaba said. "I have the exact area we need to go to if we want to reach the dungeon, or we could go back to the kings room to get the other key, it's your call Joker."

"Hmm, we already found the King's room so let's get that done, I mean how big can a King's room be?" Joker said.

 **Line Break.**

"Okay, very big apparently." Joker said looking around. "Why the hell is this room bigger than Inokashira Park!?"

"Probably because you jinxed it…" Skull muttered, looking around in disbelief.

It wasn't actually bigger than Inokashira Park, but it was a huge room, the ceiling was about thirty feet, a spiral staircase extending to one of the four floors of the room itself, their current floor had full body windows on in place of an entire wall, looking out to the city below, the blood red moon itself casting an eerie glow into the room, painting everything in sight in a coating of red, there was a black bear pelt on the floor at the foot of a king sized bed that Joker swore was looking at them, the walls were a dark grey cobblestone reminiscing that of an old castle.

"I feel like I'm in a video game." Oracle said looking around.

"I do not believe this is the time for stuff like that." Crow said. "We have to find that key."

"The key is probably at the fourth floor of this room, so let's make our way up there." Mona said.

"Hold on a moment." Queen said walking towards a door off in the corner. "We should also look around for anymore clues regarding this "Organization of despair" That Oracle found."

Queen opened the door and screamed as a skeleton fell out of the closet and crashed against the floor, within a second she was hiding behind Joker clinging onto him whimpering, the latter wincing as her finger nails dug into his arm through his coat and her gloves.

"Christ that scared the shit outta me!" Skull said and kicked at the skeleton.

"Can we not kick the bones of the dead please?" Noir said shaking her head. "Is there anything useful in there?"

"Not that I can see." Panther said, pulling out a dusty shoebox. "Oh hey, this might be something!"

"A shoebox?" Fox questioned. "I don't think that will help much."

"What's in the shoebox, duh!" Panther said, she opened it to find a single item.

"It's a video tape!" Crow said suddenly excited. "The same type that projector uses back in the video room."

"It's a clue, possibly?" Joker theorized.

"Hmm, it looks damaged." Queen said, now composed. "Will it still work?"

"If not, I can hack into it. Possibly, though doing that might break it permanently and we get nothing out of it." Oracle said.

"We should probably just look at it in the video room." Mona said with a cringe. "I don't want to accidently break it with no payoff at all."

"I agree, we should keep this in mind for later however, right now getting that key and finding King should be among our highest priority." Crow said.

"As well as saving Shiho." Panther said sternly.

"Yes, that too." Crow confirmed.

"We should hurry up those steps then." Joker said already moving. "I don't know how much time we have left."

The second floor was much the same as the first, however on the second floor there was a fireplace in the middle of being used flames licking the ceiling of the brick surrounding it. There was a set of comfy looking chairs around it. Nine of them in fact.

"It's… in use?" Mona said hesitantly.

"Oh dear." An old voice said, the Phantom thieves whipped around to see a short old woman, about sixty or seventy, her face was lined with wrinkles, however there was so much kindness in her face that they couldn't help but be relaxed.

"You all must be so cold!" She exclaimed walking over to Skull. "Please Dearie sit down, all of you, I'll get you something to warm you right up."

Skull looked utterly uncomfortable at the sudden physicality. "O-oh nah ma'am I'm-I'm fine." He said, however he allowed himself to be led over and sat in one of the chairs.

Immediately his awkward expression changed to one of pure bliss. "Yooooo…. I didn't realize how cold I was till I sat down… Shit man this chair has gotta be the most comfortable thing ever!" He sighed in pleasure and snuggled in a bit more.

"Come on dearies, please sit down, it does an old woman good to see guests comfortable." She insisted, gently prodding people into chairs.

Joker sat down, Crow on his left, Queen on his right. "I'll admit." Queen said, a comfy smile on her face. "This feels great."

"Ohhhh man, it feels so good that cat's get this good treatment here too." Mona said snuggling into a chair and seemingly falling asleep.

"Oh… a break sounds great right about now." Panther said. "I wonder if they give massages."

"Are you kidding?" Fox asked a satisfied smile on his face. "Just these luxurious lodgings right here are enough to satiate me."

"Ahh I could go for a cup of coffee right about now." Noir said.

"A book myself would suffice for me." Crow said.

"All I need is my Psp and I'm set man." Oracle said.

"Hey guys… weren't we supposed to do something?" Joker said but sighed in ecstasy as the fires lifted his fatigue.

"Oh no dearies!" The mysterious old woman said, coming back with blankets and gently draping them over everyone's shoulders. "Now's not the time to be thinking of work, its time to relax, as the king's handmaiden I love holding people hostage- I mean making people relax."

Joker froze at that, but a fog of bliss came back over him as the blanket rested gently on his body.

"Ohh the only way this would be better would be if we could cuddle Akira." Queen said, forgetting to use the codename.

"Oh you dearies are lovers? One second then." The old woman said. She walked over to the chairs and waved her hands across them, a pink dust coating the chairs, a flash of light blinded everyone in the room, and suddenly the chairs transformed into a single queen sized bed, Joker and Queen being the ones in the bed.

"There you are dearies, enjoy." The old woman said and walked away, Queen snuggled into Joker.

"Q-queen." Joker stuttered, his breath's becoming bated, he couldn't shake the feeling something was not right, but the warmth and comfort of the fire and his girlfriend beside him made him dizzy, and he found those thoughts shoved into the depths of his mind.

"No codenames, my love, it's just us two." Queen said with a voice like silk, she saddled even closer to him, basically lying on top of him and started planting light kisses on his neck, Joker's breathing stuttered at the contact.

"Makoto…" He growled and grabbed her, pulling her face close to his, now Queen was on top of Joker straddling his body.

"Look at them go…" Panther said dreamily.

"Yea…" Skull said with the same airy voice.

Queen, ignoring them gently took Joker's face, taking the mask off her face she put it to the side, doing the same to Joker, the former admiring the latter's eyes.

"I love your eye's… so much." Makoto said, lowering her face and capturing Akira's lips with her own, the both of them sighing with pleasure at the contact between them. Akira's hands lowered to Makoto's butt as he rubbed it through her biker outfit, feeling encouraged by the approving noises Makoto was making he ran one hand through her hair, all while their lips were still connected.

Makoto suddenly licked Akira's lips and he opened his mouth in a gasp which allowed Makoto entrance, tongue's dancing, Akira suddenly flipped her over, never parting his body from hers to where he was on top.

Akira broke the kiss, and they stared each other in the eyes, they looked at each other with such love, Akira wanted to propose to her right then and there.

Akira leaned forward again to connect his lips with Makoto's again, but suddenly in his right hand there was a sharp spike of pain, hissing, Akira cradled his hand as he realized he cut his hand on Makoto's spiked shoulder pads.

 _Wait, spiked shoulder pads?_ Akira thought, he looked around the room, his room. Or so he thought, his attic room shimmered and danced in his vision, before being replaced suddenly with… the metaverse.

Akira's eye's widened as the fog cleared from his vision, suddenly, his body felt like it was on fire, water dripped down his face… no. Sweat dripped down his face as he realized his throat was incredibly dry, and he felt dizzy from heat.

 _But wasn't I cold earlier? Yeah, I was freeze- No WAIT I WASN'T DAMNIT_ Akira screamed in his mind, shaking his head out of it's stupor.

"Akira, is everything okay?" Makoto suddenly asked, also sweating, Akira didn't respond, instead he looked around to each of his friends, they were all in their respective chairs, their bodies drenched in sweat as well, unconscious.

Except for Crow, who looked to be struggling to stay conscious.

"Queen, we have to get up." Joker said, putting his mask back on his face and handing Makoto hers. "We aren't at home right now." He finished, though in his mind he low key wished he was so they could continue.

"What are you talking about Akira?" She responded confused, reaching her hands out. "Take off that mask and come take me."

"Mak-Queen." He stuttered and gently took her hands. "You have to listen to me, we aren't in my room right now, we are in the metaverse, somehow a shadow tricked us, you got to come to your senses damnit."

He watched with a huge surge of relief as her eye's came back to life, she blinked a couple of times and looked around, letting out an adorable squeak as she tried to hide behind her mask. "W-what the hell?!" She said.

"Oh thank god." Joker said relieved. "No time to explain, we have to get Crow he's the only one still remotely conscious."

Queen gave an embarrassed nod, scrambling out of the bed, the bed turning to dust as she got out, they both ran over to Crow's chair and started shaking him.

"Crow, Crow get up!" Joker said. "Your not wherever you think you are! A shadow is controlling your mind!"

Crow shook them off roughly. "No, no… Let me stay asleep mom…" He mumbled as if asleep, even though his eyes were partly open still.

Queen sighed and looked at Joker, nodding in approval Queen suddenly reared back and punched Crow in the face.

"OW." He yelled and looked up and glared at Queen. "What did I do to…" He trailed off as he looked around confused, then he looked at himself in disbelief.

Shaking off the blanket he held his head in one hand. "What the heck was I… doing?"

Joker helped Crow out of the chair, the chair turning to dust just like the bed. "You were under control of some shadow, the old woman that seemed so kind. I think… she makes you live in your ultimate desire. Until the heat kills you."

"I see." Crow said, suddenly his face fell and he looked pained, Queen put her hand on his shoulder.

"Your desire… your mother was in it." Queen said hesitantly. "Do you need to talk about it."

Crow hesitated for a moment. "Not now… maybe later…" He finally said. "For now though, we have to wake the others up, then kill that damn shadow."

Crow then looked at the ashes of Joker and Queens bed. "Was one of you not affected by your desires?" He asked.

"N-no." Queen said. "We… were in a bed."

"Oh." Crow said sheepishly. "Well uh… it's clear what you two desire." His comment making The two lovers faces explode.

"C-come on." Joker said, turning away. "Let's get the others." As Joker walked to the other's suddenly an electric circle covered all his other friends.

"What is this?" Crow said.

"It seems they're trapped, we cant get them out!" Queen said, a small bit of panic in her voice.

"Oh dear, it seems we have three children that don't listen." An old voice said, the three in question pivoting on their heels to face the old woman, who suddenly looked a lot more sinister. "Now, now children. Wont you just… listen?" she said, a dangerous tone to her voice.

"What the hell did you do to our teammates!" Crow demanded, the woman in response making a 'tsk tsk' sound.

"Now dearie that's no way to talk to me." She said in a chastising voice, suddenly she smirked. "The punishment for that is DEATH!" Her body suddenly exploded into black and red goop, and in the puddle reformed a naked woman with green snakes for hair, snakes covering her breasts her lower half was the long body of a green snake, the edge of the snake body coiling up and rattling.

"You will not defy me! Give in to your desssiresss!" The snake woman hissed.

"You know, I liked you better when you weren't some slithering snake!" Crow trashed talked, manifesting his saber.

"Bring it on you wannabe Medusa!" Joker said.

"If we kill you, you may let our friends go? Then you have to die." Queen said.

"Dieeee!" The snake woman charged, aiming straight at Joker, Joker jumped out of the way and brought his dagger out, stabbing it into the side of the shadow, however the resulting momentum of the attack forced Joker off his feet and he began being dragged across the floor by the shadow.

"Agh!" Joker grunted, letting go of the dagger he rolled. "Ravage it! Arsene!" Arsene appeared behind Joker and struck out at the dagger, causing the shadow to howl in pain.

Joker jumped back to his teammates. "Seems like I created an impromptu weak point." He said.

"Something we can use to our advantage definitely." Crow said, suddenly he rushed at the shadow and jumped, landing on it's back nimbly dodging the snake he attempted to stab the shadow with his saber, however the shadow reached up and grabbed Crow, tossing him into Joker sending them both to the floor.

"Guys!" Queen called in concern, then glared at the shadow. "You'll get yours!" She raised her hand to her face. "Johanna!" Her Persona materialized from under her and she grabbed her handle bars, revving her Persona she drove at the shadow and at the last second hit the brakes and did a donut, hitting the shadow with one of her nuclear skills.

"Grahh! Damn you!" It screeched and attacked, sending a fireball at Queen knocking her off her bike.

During this process Crow had gotten behind the Medusa shadow. "Now, Robin!" He called, Robin Hood manifested behind him and charged an arrow and fired.

White beam's formed around the shadow and then struck out piercing their foe, the shadow gave one last shriek before it died, turning into black mist, suddenly Crow dropped to his knees breathing hard.

"You okay?" Joker asked helping him to his feet.

"Yes, just drained… I probably shouldn't have used that skill, but I was growing increasingly worried for our friends." Crow explained.

"That was… megidola, wasn't it?" Joker asked.

"Megidolaon." He corrected.

"Robin Hood relearned it?" Queen asked with widened eyes, Crow shook his head.

"Robin Hood somehow retained all his strongest skills, however… they drain me severely using them, so I prefer to use his weaker ones unless the situation is pretty desperate." He explained.

"So basically you're stronger than all of us." Joker stated, running his hand through his hair.

"No, like I said his strongest skills drain me, I wont be able to use that skill for awhile most likely." Crow said.

"Right." Queen said then pointed to back to their friends. "Look, our friends."

Joker turned and sighed with relief when he saw his teammates were free from their hallucinations, slowly blinking away the daze, they were red faced and drenched with sweat, but alive.

"What…. Happened to us?" Skull rubbed his eyes.

"It feels like I was in a volcano, ugh I'm all sticky." Panther complained.

"I was in a pleasant dream, one in which I had achieved all I could ever ask for, however… that was a lie." Fox said.

"That old woman tricked us." Crow explained. "Made us live in our desires, while overheating us with the illusion of comfort."

"So what I experienced… wasn't real?" Oracle guessed, a sad look on her face. "So my mom… is still dead…"

"Unfortunately…" Crow sympathized.

"Hey, I know it must be hard, but we should keep moving, we cant fall into a trap like that again." Mona said.

"Is it really a trap when it's something we want so badly?" Noir asked.

"I think… it is when it kills us." Joker said.

"Yea…"

"We need to keep going, now is not the time to falter." Queen insisted.

"Right." Joker agreed. "Let's keep moving, to the next floor."

The group walked up the stairs to the next floor, this one was almost completely different than the one prior, this floor was completely barren, the only notable thing about it being a single door with flower patterns.

"This is where the stairs end." Skull pointed out. "Oracle, didn't you say there were four floors?"

"There are, somethings… not right, the staircase to the final floor should be here." Oracle said, typing on her laptop.

"The stairs are probably through that door right?" Skull said. "Let's just go."

"Skull wait!" Joker said however Skull had already opened the door, inside the doorway it was so dark you couldn't see, to his credit Skull immediately backed up back to the group.

"It's… nothing." Mona said. "Oracle, can you see anything in there?"

Oracle stroked her keyboard a couple of times. "Nothing… it's like a room that doesn't exist, sorry guys but there's nothing I can do."

"Perhaps it's similar to a mementos floor." Noir suggested.

"You mean where it's always changing?" Fox asked.

Oracle shook her head. "That would make sense, but even then I could map out the mementos floors that we were on even though they changed."

"So our only option is to walk through it then and see where it takes us." Panther said.

"It doesn't seem like we have a choice, let's go team." Mona said.

Joker walked through the open door first, however that's as far as they got, suddenly a powerful wind pushed all the Phantom Thieves back except for their leader, who was already past the doors threshold.

"What the-" Joker began, however suddenly the door slammed shut and a bright light shone through the cracks in the door, Joker yelled, and then all was silent.

"AKIRA!" Queen screamed and rushed back to the door, ripping it open the Phantom Thieves peered into darkness.

And nothing else.

"AKIRA!" Queen called again, fear clutching at her chest, she sprinted through the door, the others calling back for her, however she wouldn't listen.

Suddenly the door once again slammed, and the bright light came back, this time, the door opened by itself, the darkness glaring at the rest of the group.

And Queen was gone.

"We have to go after them!" Skull said, rushing through the door, it repeating the same process.

One by one the Phantom thieves took their turns going through the mysterious door, until it was Noir and Crow.

"What do you think is through there…" Noir asked quietly, Crow looked at her, but didn't respond.

Noir sighed. "Whatever." She sprinted through the door, Crow briefly held his hand out, but clenched it as he let it drop to the side, once the flash of light ended Crow waited for the door to open again, however when it didn't he felt a chill creep down his spine, he strode up to the door and pulled it open to walk through himself instead.

But there was just the wall there, the same dry wall that covered the rest of the floor, Crow actually stumbled back in shock and stared at the doorway in shock.

"Wh-what is this?" He said aloud, running his hand along the wall inside the door. "What's going on!?"

"Crow." A familiar voice spoke his name, Crow whipped around and looked at his caller.

Standing in front of him, was Lucas, he didn't have his mask on, and his normal Amethyst eye's were so dark and lifeless they were almost black.

It was a disturbing sight, Crow took a step back, his instincts screaming at him that something was wrong.

"King? Where have you been, are you okay?" He asked the wild card user.

Lucas smiled, however it was hollow, the smile of someone that wasn't all there, the smile of someone who currently wasn't themselves. "I've been here, obviously." He spread his hands, gesturing around them. "And I'm fine, actually I'm better than I've been in a while."

 _His voice is completely monotonous._ Crow thought. "You do not look fine… your not acting like yourself."

The smile fell from Lucas' face. "Who's to say _this_ isn't my true self Crow?"

"The real you wouldn't look so dead while they were alive."

Lucas sneered. "That me was just a persona in of itself. Persona-ception." He joked, that hollow smile returning to his face, he started a slow stride while walking to his left, Crow mirroring his movements.

"As for what 'they' did to me, the only thing my uncle did was open my eyes to the truth, that this world is bound by despair, people love it, they feed off it like parasitic insects, insects that should be exterminated."

A chill went down Crow's spine. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Lucas sighed. "Take… war for example, war is the most profitable way to make money, people's despair makes money, major events get put on the news for more money, like school shootings, suicide, murder, rape, drug scandals. All of this leads to despair; however, they never truly do anything about it because in truth they feed off it! They love it! They don't let it end because without despair, they don't have money! It's a double whammy, humanity as a whole is ruled by despair and money, those corrupted thoughts, what's the point of trying to stop something that's already happened! Why not support the continuation of something that's already happened!? Why take away the thing that humanity wants most!?"

"What about the people that don't let themselves be ruled by that!" Crow yelled and drew his saber. "What about people that fight back against that despair for hope for a better tomorrow! One that's not filled with depressive thoughts!"

"Oh don't give me that cliché bullshit!" Lucas yelled, manifesting his scythe. "Especially coming from you!"

"Your right." Crow conceded. "I have no right to say that at all considering what I've done. I used this power to do bad things, but I swore an oath to myself that I'd do whatever it takes to make up from that! I will not stand by and let you help destroy this world, when I can make up for my faults by saving it, EVEN IF THAT MEANS I HAVE TO TAKE YOU DOWN!"

"Fine!" Lucas spat. "I hoped to reason with you and make you see, but it seems like I was foolish to think that, I'll end this pointless redemption that you so desire to achieve!" Lucas snapped his fingers, and two shadows came out from the ground, two Cerberus'.

"You can control shadows?" Crow paused, Lucas let out a laugh.

"A gift from my uncle." Lucas started twirling his scythe. "One I'll use to eliminate you!"

"I refuse to falter here, your uncles shadow's brainwashed you! I will not let you destroy yourself!" Crow said. "My path to redemption starts now!"

"Hmph." Lucas grunted and waved his hand. "Kill him!"

 **A/N: What's up fellas! Hope you enjoyed this chapter if you made it down here! This one took a while because I had to get my computer fixed, and I started on my third playthrough of Persona 5, ( I've told myself not to romance Makoto this time, so we'll see how that goes LOL)**

 **I got a lot of reviews on this chapter, (Which made me really will my computer to be fixed) some from people I didn't know read my story! It shocks me because I know OC's aren't exactly popular in fanfiction because they either overshadow the other characters or are just plain boring. I hope my little buddy Lucas isn't boring you all Lol, actually, I'd appreciate it if you could tell me what you think of him so far so I could get a general consensus on future works for other characters, but also tell me what you thought of the chapter too lol. I like hearing criticism as long as it's fair and doesn't flame me. Nevertheless I hope you all enjoy this chapter, and the story as a whole. Fun fact: This is my longest story ever, and my most popular in terms of reviews, and the only one I've actually felt like keeping up on.**


	21. Chapter 21

Akira woke up with a groan, rubbing his head in a desperate attempt to rid himself of the headache he found himself being plagued with.

"Ugh, what happened? I walked through the door and I passed out." He said pushing himself to his feet.

"Hey guys-" He began, then stopped as he realized he was alone, he couldn't see his friends, suddenly he realized he couldn't see anything at all, he was surrounded in darkness, he could see his body fine but nothing else, not even the floor he was standing on.

"Alone, that's all you are and all you ever will be, a nothing." A voice suddenly said. Akira turned to the sound of the voice.

And saw himself, literally, or rather. His metaverse counterpart Joker with his back facing him, not looking at Akira, suddenly Akira realized he wasn't wearing his metaverse clothes, he was in his casual everyday clothes, and Joker himself entire outfit was switched, his gloves were black, but his suit was blood red.

"Wha-what is this?" Akira said with a shiver in his voice, Joker did not answer, did not move, made no acknowledgement that Akira had spoken at all.

"Inferior, pathetic, weak. No goals, no drive, nothing." Joker had said again, still not looking at Akira.

"Who are you talking about?!" Akira demanded, this time, Joker laughed, a hollow sound.

"I'm talking about you of course." He said. "You're just a leader of convenience, because no one else wanted to do it, that's why you hate him, isn't it?"

"Huh?" Akira took a step back. "Hate who? Akechi?"

Joker shook his head. "Nope, that makes it even funnier, you like Akechi. No, the one you hate…' Joker turned around and Akira paled, Joker's eyes were completely black, and his face was so pale it was almost translucent. "Is Lucas, your newest Phantom thief."

"T-that's not true!" Akira protested, Joker laughed in response.

"Bullshit." He said flatly. "You hate him! Because he is willing to lead, willing to take command, he's willing to do what no one else but you were willing to do and you hate him for it! Your scared, of him taking your spotlight, of you being so inferior that your friends leave you behind."

"That's not true!" Akira repeated, a shout this time.

"YES IT IS!" Joker screamed back, somehow being louder than Akira. "You know it too, the only reason you're helping him now is so you can play leader again, so you can make yourself known to this world, not for 'justice' at all. So you can be known as a legend, he challenges you and you _hate_ that."

Akira sank to his knees and put his hands over his ears. "SHUT THE HELL UP!" He screamed so loud his voice cracked, and suddenly he found that he couldn't breath anymore, his mind whirled, and unshed tears burned at the corners of his eyes.

Breathing heavy suddenly he shoved Joker, a move that shocked the latter and wiped the smirk of his face. "Your right!" He spat out. "I fear being inferior, I fear losing all my friends, I fear being unneeded because who am I really? Joker? Akira? A fucking criminal? I love the theatrics and being dramatic and showing off, I hate being challenged and I _hate_ taking orders… but your wrong about one thing."

Joker raised an eyebrow.

"I know this is just an illusion, just something to distract me and bring out my deepest negative thoughts, I figured it out when you said I hated Lucas. Your wrong you damn fake!" He yelled.

Suddenly in a flash of blue fire, Akira's metaverse attire appeared on his body, and fake-Joker disappeared into a black mist.

"I don't hate Lucas at all, not even close. He's just like us." Akira said, putting his mask back on, resuming his Joker Persona. "He's lost, and we'll help him find his way."

A bright light flashed behind Joker, and he turned around with a mischievous smirk on his face. "My justice is fake huh? I'll just prove this world wrong by taking it." Joker walked through the bright light, and came out of it, ending up in what seemed to be a waiting room, it was a large dull grey room with typical waiting room chairs and plaid grey carpet, at the other side of the room there was a set of window's peering out over the apocalyptic city. Joker walked over to those windows and balked.

"We must be hundreds of feet in the air…" He murmured to himself.

"I think it's just an illusion." A familiar voice said behind him. Joker sighed and relief as he turned and brought the owner of the voice into his arms.

Queen sighed as she snuggled into him briefly. "I was so worried…" Queen said.

"Sorry my Queen, wasn't expecting that to happen." Joker ran his hands through her hair as he held her, taking her in a soft embrace, a softness that he only showed the girl he loved.

"Did you have one of those trials too?" Queen asked, Joker looked down at her, he hesitated for a brief moment.

"Tell me you're trial first." He said, Queen pulled away and sat down in one of the chairs, Joker suddenly feeling cold.

"I had to… relive my father's death." She said, Joker sucked in a sharp breath but Queen went on undisturbed. "I had to listen as… another version of me yelled in my ear about how I was useless… how my uselessness is the reason my father died, the reason my sister hates me… all while watching as my father was killed… by that damn truck driver."

"You know there was nothing you could do." Joker said sternly. "You weren't there when he died, and your father loved you, and so does your sister… _**I**_ love you, we all do, you weren't useless and still aren't now, you might be about as strong as I am and I can switch between Persona's."

Queen let out a soft giggle. "You sure know how to make a girl feel better don't you?" She said.

Joker smirked. "Well I had to learn to steal your heart didn't I?" He said wryly. Queen blushed and rolled her eyes.

"Shut it." She said in mock sternness, it was silent for a few minutes before she spoke again. "So… how about you?"

"Hmm?" Joker looked at her again.

"What was your trial?" She asked again, Joker froze up briefly, before relaxing and telling her about his trial and what he experienced.

"That's… not true at all." Queen said once he was done, she sighed. "You are such an idiot for someone super smart."

"I cant tell if I just got insulted or complimented."

"You mean so much to us, because of you we met each other and became friends, no. Not friends, _family_. You saved the entire world from a false god, who cares if you have a flare for the dramatic or love to show off? Who doesn't secretly?"

Queen suddenly stood up and strode over to Joker grabbing his shirt collar. "I fell in love with you for who you are because you helped me. I saw the real you. A great leader, a great guy and friend. And… lover." Queen pulled him down and kissed Joker hard, the latter tensed up for the briefest moment before wrapping his arms around his Queen and kissed her back, the two lovers caught up in the intensity of each other they didn't notice the two other watchers.

"Ahem." Skull cleared his throat, instantly the two lover's sprang apart, blushing furiously, Skull for his part had a shit eating grin on his face.

Panther herself was holding her sides trying not to laugh, a couple snickers escaping her nevertheless.

Joker and Queen sighed at being interrupted. "I don't see why you're laughing." Joker snarked with a devious smirk. "Not like you and Skull haven't been a bit closer than normal.

Panther and Skull's faces turned to tomato's. Making it Joker and Queen's turn to laugh.

"Where are the others?" Skull asked looking around the room.

"Not here yet, they're probably still doing their trials." Queen answered.

"What was you're trial?" Joker asked them.

"I had to watch Kamoshida break my leg again, and my dad hit my mother and a younger version of myself all while a doppelganger of myself was telling me how useless I was, how I just watched my mother be beaten and allowed myself to be beaten." Skull answered, his eye's briefly flashing with pain.

"That… that isn't true you know that." Joker said, Skull grinned at him.

"I know that, shit was still fucked up though."

"How about you Ann?" Queen asked, tears suddenly brimmed in the corner of Panther's eyes.

"I… I had to watch Shiho jump again… and this time… she didn't survive… all while Another version of myself was screaming at me… calling me a horrible friend, one that didn't do anything, one that didn't care." She said.

Joker took a shuddering breath. "That's… horrible, but that's also not true, you were powerless at the time."

Panther smiled a bit at that, a weak one, but a smile regardless. "Thanks… I needed that."

"It seems that the purpose of the king's room is to put us through shit and see if we can get through it." Skull said, sinking into one of the waiting chairs.

"One floor showed our ultimate desires… another forced us to relive our darkest feelings, maybe the next will be a combination of both?" Panther suggested.

Queen shook her head. "I don't think it'll be quite that simple, it's probably going to be something worse."

"What could be worse than having us do what we were just doing though?" Skull asked.

"I don't know." Queen admitted.

"None of us do." Joker affirmed. "This palace-short as it may be is unpredictable, probably even more than Oracle's palace was."

"I don't really enjoy thinking about that." A voice suddenly said, making Joker jump, he turned to look at Oracle who had a deep frown on her face.

"Your trial wasn't so great I imagine?" Skull asked.

"I had to relive my mother's death." She said dryly. "And that's all I'm gonna speak about it."

"Fair enough."

A flash of light a few feet behind Oracle appeared, and like a portal Fox came out of it, looking around in somewhat of a daze he saw the group and walked over, his lack of acknowledgement to the group kept everyone from asking about his trial.

"Madarame." He said simply, and that was that, the silence got a bit more tense after he appeared, and got even worse when Mona arrived, crying about how he couldn't become human.

It was just about choking when Noir appeared and instantly broke down in Queen's arms about her father, Joker clenched his fists, trying to stave off the rage that was threatening it's way through, he felt a sudden spark of pain behind his eyes, and his eye's briefly glowed yellow before going back to their normal silver-black color, he looked around a little at his teammates, no one noticed.

 _What… was that? Was I just imagining myself with glowing eyes? Was that some sort of premonition? But nothing happened though._ Joker thought, he was interrupted when Noir started speaking.

"Where's Crow?" She asked, her voice still a little hoarse from her tears. "Did he not follow us?"

"I'm sure he's just taking a bit with his trial, who knows what the hell's he's been through." Mona said.

"This is clearly a waiting room of some sort." Oracle said. "Let's just chill here."

"I always imagined waiting rooms to be a bit livelier." Fox said.

"Ever been to the hospital Fox?" Skull asked. "Boring as shit."

"I remember waiting with my sister for hours during one of my doctor's appointments in this drab waiting room. I fell asleep, apparently the way I was sleeping was so hilarious that my doctor and sis took pictures." Queen said.

"I want to see that so badly." Joker said with a grin, Queen rolled her eyes.

"Too~bad. "She said in a sing-song voice, Joker sighed in defeat.

"Damn man. What's taking him so long?" Skull said, tapping his left foot, one of his normal signs that showed he was impatient.

"Maybe he really _didn't_ follow us." Panther said.

"But why not? I do not see the benefit of staying behind." Fox said.

"Unless… he was forced to stay behind." Queen said.

"Oh please tell me you're not thinking that-" Joker began but Queen kept going.

"Noir was the last person to go through, which left Crow alone for a few seconds, we've already seen that Christopher and Shadow Lucas have the ability to teleport seemingly at will, what if in the time that Crow was alone they attacked him? What if he needs our help right now!?"

"Fuck you are thinking that." Joker mumbled, Skull shot up out of his seat.

"Then we need to go right now before it's too late!" He said, already sprinting to a nearby door.

"Skull wait!" Joker yelled, cursing loudly as his call was unheeded, sprinting to catch up to his rowdy teammate.

"Here we go again…" Panther sighed following the group, the rest not far behind.

 **Line Break**

Crow jumped over the charging shadow's and charged Lucas swinging his saber, Lucas leaned back to dodge the blade and Crow used the momentum from the swing to send a straight kick into his stomach, Lucas grunted at the impact and swung his scythe at Crow grazing the nose of his mask, the shadow's charged again and lunged at him Crow locked his saber in one Cerberus' jaw while he stopped the other with his bare hand grabbing his snout.

Lucas brought the scythe down Crow's back opening a long gash across it, the latter howled in pain and rage as Robin hood appeared and shot the shadow Crow was holding with his hand killing it Crow grunted in effort as he swung the dog creature holding onto his sword at Lucas who batted it out of the way with his scythe killing it.

"Tch." Lucas scowled. "Not bad, but I wasn't expecting you to be defeated just like that."

Breathing heavily Crow smirked. "Heh-heh. You may be talented, but I've been doing this longer than any of us."

"Experience vs potential eh?" Lucas began spinning his scythe again. "Let's see what you got! Reaper!"

Lucas' Persona came out from behind him swinging his scythe, however Robin Hood parried the strike with his bow, Lucas grunted in pain before throwing his scythe like a boomerang, Crow's eye's widened as he dove out of the way and watched as the scythe split the ground behind him.

He shouldn't have lost focus, Lucas rushed up on him and slammed his fist into Crow's jaw in a hard haymaker, Crow hit the floor with a hard thud as the scythe came back to Lucas who brought it up over his head and slammed it down, Crow rolled out of the way and called Robin hood, who nocked an arrow and fired so quickly Lucas couldn't dodge it.

Crow internally screamed in triumph as Lucas flew into a wall cracking it, the only sound coming from the blonde teenager a groan as he collapsed to his knees.

"Looks like experience wins." Crow said, Lucas glared up at him and stood up with shaking legs, cracking his knuckles Grim Reaper came out from behind him.

"This is not over yet." Lucas said, suddenly he slammed his fist into the ground. "Lead me to victory! Oda Nobunaga!"

Crow cursed to himself as a second Persona rose beside Grim Reaper. _Shit, I forgot he has the ability to use two Persona's at once._

"How about know?" Lucas asked with a cocky smirk. "You think your experience can take this!? Nobunaga use Rising slash!"

Oda Nobunaga charged at Crow drawing his blade. "Shit! Now Robin!" Robin hood manifested and blocked the strike from Nobunaga, suddenly Grim Reaper appeared behind Crow and grabbed him, lifting Crow with ease he slammed him into the floor again.

Crow coughed out blood again before he was suddenly lifted and slammed again, each power slam bringing uncharted agony to Crow, Suddenly Grim Reaper grabbed Crow again and threw him into a wall.

Crow fell to the ground, his vision blurry. He desperately tried to move through the pain, but suddenly found he was unable to move anymore.

Lucas said something, but it fell on deaf ears to the downed Persona user, he barely felt Nobunaga lift him up with one hand and putting his ethereal sword to his chest with the other.

 _So… this is how it ends…_ Crow thought. _I couldn't even… make amends…_

" _ **Use it."**_ A voice said in his mind. Crow already knew who it was.

 _Hell no, go back to your hole Nyx_

" _ **Foolish child, it's the only way to survive."**_

 _Dying is better than allowing you to influence me._

" _ **What about your redemption? Don't you want to make amends?"**_

 _You don't know the first thing about redemption._

" _ **I know everything about you little bird, I know you desire redemption for your sins, and this is the only way."**_

 _Maybe death is the only way for redemption Nyx, I dodged my fate years ago, maybe it's coming for me now._

Crow heard laughter in his mind _ **"I gave you a new fate boy, you dodged nothing, now use it, if only so you can see the girl you love again."**_

Crow's mind went blank with shock _H-how do you-_

" _ **I just said I know everything about you, you want redemption so badly, because you love her, and if you die now, it'll be for nothing."**_

…

" _ **Well?"**_

 _I hope you burn in hell, you bitch._

"Kill him." Crow rasped, Lucas' eye's widened and Nobunaga hesitated. "Luci-"

Crow didn't get to finish, suddenly, several white divine beams hit Lucas at once, the force from the heavenly attack knocking him off his feet, Oda Nobunaga and Grim Reaper vanished, and Crow dropped back to the ground.

Suddenly he felt sweet relief as a cool blue-green aura enveloped him, he looked up to see Panther and Mona over him with incredibly worried looks on their faces.

He numbly looked around, not fully recovered yet, and saw everyone else in front of him shielding him from his foe, two people stuck out to him the most, Noir and Joker, both of them staring down the brainwashed Phantom Thief with a rage none of the group have ever seen from either of them.

 _I… I'm saved…_ Crow realized.

" _ **Tch, doesn't change the fact that you're still mine, you'd do well to remember that."**_ Crow felt Nyx's presence leave his mind, and suddenly he felt a great burden leave his shoulders, his heart felt lighter and he could breathe easier.

"What the hell do you think you're doing Lucas?!" Joker growled out, Lucas stood and dusted himself off, trying to look unaffected behind the attack, however Joker could see the pain he was in behind his eyes.

"That was a rather rude interruption." Lucas said, making his voice conversational.

"Save it, why are you attacking your friend?!" Skull barked out.

"He isn't my friend!" Lucas snapped. "None of you are my friends! You're all just a bunch of fake thieves, stealing away what makes people, people!"

"What the hell?" Queen said in disbelief. "You were all for it just yesterday! Why are you fighting against us suddenly?"

"It's… no use." Crow rasped out. "He's been… brainwashed by Christopher's Shadow somehow, I couldn't get through to him…"

"So basically… He doesn't mean what he says?" Oracle theorized.

"Come on man." Joker tried to reason. "Your not you right now don't you see that?"

Lucas sneered again. "I'm just as much 'myself' right now as I was with you idiots, nothing's wrong with me."

Joker had one more move to play, and it was a wild card, the irony not lost on Joker. "Would you're mother think that you're okay?" He asked softly, Lucas' eye's widened. "Would you're father, for all his mistakes. Think that your fine right now?"

"M-my mother? AGH!" Lucas suddenly winced in pain, holding his head in agony. "M-mom? Dad? AHHH!" Lucas fell to his knees still holding his head.

Suddenly he slammed his fist into the ground repeatedly until it bled, he took a deep breath and stood up, his eye's back to that same dead look.

"That was a dirty trick." He said, his voice returning to the monotonous tone, suddenly he sighed. "I overexerted myself a little fighting Crow, I'm just gonna leave. I'll be waiting at the treasure for you, don't keep me waiting too long kay?"

Suddenly Lucas disappeared in a black mist, leaving the Phantom thieves alone. Joker blinked a few times at the now vacant space their possessed teammate was standing before turning to help Crow.

"You should start explaining." Joker said calmly. "We're all very confused right now."

"I am too." Crow said. "The door you all went through… when I opened it I found nothing but a wall, then suddenly, Lucas appeared, all signs point to him being brainwashed, what with the way he was acting."

"Do you think we should pull out leader?" Mona asked. "Crow is hurt."

"No!" Crow Protested quickly. "Please, don't stop on my account. Thanks to you and Panther I'm feeling much better."

"If you say so." Joker said. "However I am still making you sit out for a little while, at least until you catch your breath."

"Understood leader."

"Hey look." Noir pointed. "The staircase has finally appeared."

"It would seem we have conquered our trials, let us continue." Fox said.

"I agree." Joker said.

They walked up the staircase, Crow leaning on Noir for support, her left hand on his chest as they made the surprisingly longer trek up the staircase.

"You know… I was… worried about you." Noir admitted, she almost withdrew her hand at the sudden pick up of his heartbeat, but she decided against it.

"You were?" He asked, head cocked to the side like a puppy.

"We waited for you, but when you didn't come through, and when Queen said you might have stayed behind… it scared me, all I could think was on how to get to you, and when I saw what Lucas, who was supposed to be our friend doing that to you… I got so angry that I wanted to beat the crap out of him."

"O-Okumura-san…" Crow said, the eyes behind his mask widening, he made a strange noise and turned away from her, facing his eye's forward he looked around the front of them, as if to make sure no one was looking.

"What are you-" Her eye's widened as Crow pulled his mask up and leaned in and pressed his lips to her cheek softly, Noir's senses were assaulted by a multitude of emotions she couldn't describe, combined with the scent of lotus it made her quite breathless.

Suddenly he pulled his face away and just about yanked his mask back down, quickly moving to lean off her he audibly groaned as he adjusted himself to where he could grip the side railing to walk on his own, all the while Noir was staring at him with widened eye's and an unmistakable blush on his face.

"A-Akechi kun…" She whispered, in her shock not using any codename, his lack of answer forced her to put what just transpired into her thoughts, however she made a mental note to talk to him about it later, she looked around and saw no evidence of any of her friends being aware of what transpired.

"Were at the top everybody." Joker said, observing the area around him, this floor had the makings of one of those old Japanese dojos' you'd see in an old karate movie, or Shujin academy if his memory was still right, with the hardwood floors the only notable thing about the floor itself was the unreasonably big door at the other end of the room, almost as big as the key door they needed to open.

"I'm getting a real Karate Kid feel from this area." Skull said, Panther giggled.

"It's so retro it's almost charming."

"It's similar…" Crow murmured, Queen looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"What's similar?"

"It's nearly identical to the general look of Lucas' own house, I was thinking about it earlier but now I'm certain."

"Certain of what?" Panther asked.

"This castle is how Christopher views his own house, he kill people, thinks he's a superior being with some sort of evil lair, it's a game to him, this man… is truly a monster."

"I agree, his shadow from what we've seen so far fight's in manipulation and in the shadows, he somehow managed to brainwash our friend, we shouldn't take him lightly." Mona said.

"It took long enough, I was getting a bit tired of waiting for you all." A very familiar voice said, up above them hanging from a chandelier was a figure wearing a red ankle-length tailcoat, a high-necked waistcoat with gold accents, red jogger-style pants, brown-black winkle-pickers with black gloves, dropping down from the chandelier he landed on the ground with a smirk revealing unruly raven black hair, however there was no mask on his face.

"What the hell?" Skull said. "He's a freakin' reverse doppelganger!"

"Uh skull? He's I think you mean mirror match." Oracle corrected.

"The term doesn't matter." Fake-Joker said, his voice upon closer inspection was slightly distorted. "You're probably wondering why I'm here, why I exist."

"Oh that obvious?" Joker quipped manifesting his dagger. "Tell us why your… a thing."

"It's a palace obviously." Fake-Joker shrugged "Logistics don't really apply here, if they did then would they really be distortions of one's heart? Or just a place to hide when the cattle get's massacred?"

"What on earth does that entail?" Fox asked, Fake-Joker sighed.

"It means, the key is just behind this door." He pointed behind him. "And you have to kill us to get through it."

"Us?" Crow asked. "But there are only one of you."

"Oh. Right." Fake-Joker said sheepishly, he snapped his fingers, and suddenly behind him fake versions of the rest of the phantom thieves came out of the ground from a black and red ooze not unlike the one's shadows come from.

"There." Fake-Joker said grinning. "Now it's an even playing field."

"Just… what are you?" Noir asked manifesting her axe. "You're clearly not Joker but… you look just like him."

"Huh?" Fake-Joker asked, disbelief in his face. "What are you talking about you idiot? I AM Joker, just the worst parts of him."

"The worst parts of me huh?..." Joker mumbled.

"…Joker?" Mona said.

Joker shook his head. "No, it's nothing, let's finish this quickly."

"That's the spirit!" Fake-Joker grinned. "Come at us with all you have! Isn't that right, Nega-thieves?"

"Yes. Leader." They all said in unison, like zombies.

"Don't mind how they sound, I promise they fight just like you." Fake-Joker suddenly called his dagger and lunged, locking blades with the real Joker. "Including me, fake leader."

Joker grunted at the effort. "Hng, the only fake here is you!" Joker broke the lock and swung his blade, the fake nimbly dodging it with a back flip.

"Tch, not bad." Joker said. "But let's see you dodge this! Persona!" Neither Arsene nor Vishnu came heeded his call, instead a new Persona came to help his master.

"Strike him down, Siegfried!" The leather armor wearing Germanic hero drew his blade and charged. "Assault dive!" Siegfried gripped his blade with both hands and brought it down cutting right through Fake-Joker.

Or at least he tried to, standing in Siegfried's way was a Persona, one that struck fear into the hearts of everyone in the room, even the almost zombie versions of the other Phantom thieves that were locked in combat with their real counterparts.

"N-no way!" Joker said, his voice a couple octaves higher than normal.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH." Fake-Joker laughed maniacally. "Did you forget? I'm your doppelganger! However I'm not the weak, rusty you that you are now, I'm the one that you were when you were at full power! We all are, now let me show you!"

As if on cue the doppelganger's Persona effortlessly shot Siegfried, ripping utter agony through Joker's midsection as his Persona faded, Joker looked up with a wince as he stared into the demonic eye's of his foe.

"Satanael…" Joker rasped, the pain making his voice hoarse.

"A-Anat?" Queen gasped.

"Holy shit, Seiten Taisei!" Skull breathed.

"Oh no, Astarte why?" Noir cried.

"Betrayed by my own self… Kamu-susano-o." Fox mourned.

"Mercurius… Damnit!" Mona raged.

Crow was visibly shaking as he watched his doppelganger, wearing all black summon out the Persona that gave him everything and took it away at the same time, a sick grin on his face, the only emotion his fake was showing.

"N-no… L-Loki…" He stuttered out.

"You might as well just give up, you're at an impasse, it's either you run away or you die here, I wont pursue you if you choose to flee, I got _some_ honor." Joker said, smiling as Satanael floated back to him.

"We… We should run!" Joker said, he turned to his teammates. "Everyone, ru-"

"Wait a minute!" Oracle practically screamed, she was typing on her laptop so quickly her fingers were a blur.

"Okay, no don't run!" She said. "Remember how I changed the cognition of my own palace when I got Necronomicon?"

"So!?" Skull yelled. "That doesn't matter now we have to run!"

"Oh calm down." Oracle said and cracked her fingers. "My time to shine. Hey Fakes! You may have our ultimate Persona's, but you don't have my skills!" Oracle pressed a button on her laptop and suddenly a large red laser hit all the doppelgangers' Persona's, locking them all up in large chains.

"Wh-" Panther began.

"Don't ask!" Oracle said quickly. "I'll explain later! Just attack right now!"

Taking the que Joker summoned Siegfried again, using the same skill as before on his doppelganger. This time Fake-Joker couldn't block and was smashed by the attack into the ground.

Joker whipped around and saw his Queen beating the living shit out of her doppelganger, Skull was locked in a weapon lock with his doppelganger, both of them trading punches with a free hand. Panther was shooting fire at hers, Fox was circling his doppelganger like… a fox about to strike, Noir was in the middle of actually finishing off her doppelganger, Mona was parrying strikes from his, Zorro striking with wind at their foe.

 _Shit! Where's Akechi!?_ Joker looked around frantically and saw Crow currently struggling hard against his, even with the lethargic look the Doppelganger had about him he was clearly the fiercest fighter of all the fakes, his skills second to none, combined the fact that the real Crow still hasn't fully recovered yet…

Joker rushed over, throwing his dagger at the doppelganger as he jumped, the doppelganger saw the attack and swung his saber at the blade knocking it out the air. Joker landed behind the fake as Crow took the opportunity given to run his saber into the doppelgangers chest, Joker grabbed his dagger from the ground and ran it into the neck of the fake, it let out a single uncommitted grunt, before dissolving into black mist.

"That… was troublesome… thank you." Crow said. Joker nodded his head in affirmation, suddenly Crow's eyes widened. "LOOK OUT!" he dove into Joker as a red and black spiral beam blasted past them both, blowing a large hole in the wall that looked out to the city below.

"You let you're guard down Joker." Fake-Joker said with a malicious grin. "You didn't think it'd be that easy did you?" he snapped his fingers again, and beside him a pool of black and red formed, rising out another doppelganger of Crow.

"I can bring my friends back at will." Fake-Joker explained with a shrug. "It's a fun talent, oh, and by the way. That little trick you did has worn off, we can use our Persona's again."

On cue Satanael rose out of the ground behind Fake-Joker and shot his gun, Crow and Joker dove out of the way as the massive bullet hit the same wall and blew an even bigger hole in it.

Joker looked back at the wall and idea forming in his head, he looked at Crow who was rolling his shoulders and nodded.

"Oracle! Can you do that thing you did again?" Crow called out.

Oracle dodged a lightning bolt from the fake Ryuji while the real one hit it in the face with his club.

"I can!" She called back. "But not for too long! The effect's will wear off quicker the more I do it."

"How long!" Joker said ducking under a strike from Satanael and stabbing The Fake Joker in the chest, who let out a laugh as he effortlessly forced the real one back.

"Forty-five seconds!"

"What?! That's not enough time to defeat our foes!" Fox said, parrying an attack from his doppelganger and ripping his sword across it's chest.

"We wont need to! I got a plan!" Joker said, at the revelation the Fake-Joker laughed.

"Are you kidding? Just give up there's NOTHING you can do!" He said scathingly.

It was the real Joker's turn to smirk. "If you really were me you'd know exactly what I'm planning, you're nothing but a fake living off lost glory."

The Fake Joker's eyes flashed with rage. "That isn't true you piece of shit, I've killed gods! I lead my friends to victory! I'm worth something."

"Are you kidding me?" Joker laughed and spread his arms, subtly backing up closer to the hole. "Look around you jack ass! All the people you call friends are nothing more than animated zombies, you're the only one with any sort of sentience and it's nothing but pathetic drivel, my friends are alive and breathing, and talking! While yours are basically drooling all over themselves!"

Satanael disappeared, and the fake Joker started clutching his head. "SHUT UP! SHUT THE _HELL_ UP! That… that isn't tr-"

"YES IT IS!" Joker roared stepping even further back, "I KNOW BECAUSE I AM YOU! AND YOUR NOTHING BUT A FAKE!"

"SHUT UUUUUPPPP!" The fake Joker charged at him, drawing his blade and lunging, before the dagger could pierce Joker he grabbed his arm and used his momentum to flip the Fake Joker over him.

And right out of the hole in the wall, Joker winced as he heard his doppelganger scream in fear all the way down, until he could no longer hear his screams, Joker turned to help his friends fight their fakes, but froze as they all at once rushed at him… no, _by_ him and out of the window, groaning and crying out as they all fell to their deaths.

He didn't show it, but Joker was shaken up severely, instead he turned and examined his friends, they didn't look to worse for wear, other than Skull who had a bunch of bruises on his face from the shot's him and his doppelganger had taken on each other.

"It's… over." Noir said, collapsing to her knees. "Phew, that was exhausting."

"Were lucky we aren't dead, we had to fight ourselves when they were at their full power… it wasn't easy." Mona said.

"I don't think it was them at their full power." Oracle said.

"What do you mean?" Queen asked.

"They seemed too weak to be us at our full power, like way too weak. They were still super strong but not god killing level strong, in fact the only one that seemed truly at their full power was Joker's doppelganger."

"Perhaps it is because he was the only one with true sentience?" Fox suggested.

"That may be the case." Crow agreed. "Regardless, we are triumphant, and look, the door is open."

The door was in fact open and leading to another room, upon walking in they found nothing but a simple king-sized bed and a bed side table, which to all their reliefs the key rested on, glimmering like diamonds in the moonlight.

Joker snatched up the key immediately. "Finally, that was utter hell. I don't ever want to have to go through this again." He said.

"Should we head back now or explore some more? It's your call Joker." Skull said.

"Let's just head back now, we need to head to the dungeon right? That's where the final key is."

"Right." Oracle confirmed. "That's where Shiho is too."

"Then what are we standing around here for?" Panther asked. "Let's go!"

"Hold on, there's another door here." Fox said striding over to it.

"Come on man!" Skull said. "We don't have time to be-"

Fox opened the door and instantly the cognition inside shifted around as if unstable, he smirked smugly at Skull.

"A… safe room." Skull said. "That means we don't have to walk all the way back right? Let's go!"

"Sigh." Oracle said, Joker shook his head, a soft snicker escaping him.

 **Line Break**

Lucas was pissed, extremely.

He was pissed because he couldn't figure out quite _why_ he was pissed, which just made him madder, he thought that some of his anger came from the fact that he couldn't finish off the Phantom thief Crow, but then he got mad at the realization that if he succeeded, for some reason he might have regretted it.

Wait, then that was what made him mad! But how can you regret and be mad at regretting something? That doesn't make any sense

"God…" Lucas sighed, rubbing his head. "Are these emotions just lingering effects of the conversion chamber?"

His shadow explained to him how it worked, apparently the chamber worked by forcing the person inside it to experience so many different emotions and feelings and memories at once that they're mind goes into a sensory overload, it also show's them the truths of the world, it's darkness, it's animosity, how little people care about one another or true justice, it made him sick, he'd have to thank his uncle later for helping him see the truth of this world, that Nyx is the only way to true release.

Lucas stopped as he walked by the dungeon, he was told to never go in there, and that there was a dangerous person in there and the consequences would be large if he disobeyed. Lucas didn't completely understand the logic behind that, his uncle was a serial killer and a king, couldn't he just kill him? he intended to keep walking, but suddenly he heard sounds, sounds that were coming from the door.

Against his orders he put his ear to the door to listen, behind the door it was faint, so faint Lucas was shocked he even heard it to begin with, but behind the door he heard tears.

The tears of a girl, a familiar sounding girl, but he couldn't understand why those cries sounded familiar.

Suddenly something flashed in his mind, images of two people he seemed to be fighting, him yelling at someone to run away. Before he could truly grasp on to it the images disappeared, leaving Lucas with a cold feeling in his heart.

Something gripped at his body, some strange emotion that ripped through his soul and gripped at his heart, searing through his entire body.

He felt… rebellious, he shook his head and internally stomped the feeling out pivoting away from the door and walking away from it, suddenly though after a few steps, he stopped and looked back a the door with a scrunched up face.

Suddenly he felt… wrong. That something was wrong, that something wasn't right with his current situation. He grasped for his thoughts but found they were all over the place, his head pounded and his breath came in shallow gasps, a cold sweat poured down his face.

Before he could stop himself, almost against his own will… wait… his will? What will? Who's will? His? Nevertheless, he strode back over to the dungeons entrance and ripped open the door.

When he stepped inside somehow… everything went back to normal, he felt confused still, lost. But somehow that single emotion of rebellion burned in him like a supernova, despite all his confusion… somehow that felt right.

He started walking through the empty dungeon, somehow moss was growing on the walls of the place, and the air was thick with moisture. Clutching his head as more images flashed through his mind.

It was him… and those damn Phantom thieves, sitting in a room talking, about what he didn't know… or did he? Once again, those images disappeared before he could grip them and analyze them.

He heard the cries again, this time much louder, and Lucas' mind exploded as now he _knew_ that he recognized the voice behind the tears, a single image appeared in his mind, one that burned hotter than anything else.

A girl with raven black hair kept up in a pony tail, slightly older than Lucas himself, pretty, in an unassuming way kind. Gentle.

Her name… what was her name? Lucas gripped savagely at his own mind, now certain something wasn't right, something was fucked up about the process that he went through, he quickly caught a glimpse of an image, a… key?

More cries, even closer now, he turned a corner, more images, that girl. That raven haired girl…

Another image popped up, this one made him pause. His uncle, grabbing that girls wrist, a sickening smile on his half-transformed face, a deadline… a threat… saving someone…

But who was he supposed to save? Someone with blue hair popped into his mind but left quickly, he didn't care somehow he knew that wasn't right. The girl? But why?

The cries again, so close now. Maybe one cell away, his breath picked up again, loud breaths.

"Wh-who's there!?" The girl called scared, unable to see who. "Ann?! Lucas!?"

At his name his mind shifted and he stepped in front of the cell, inside the cell was a girl with raven black hair tied up in a pony tail, a leg brace, Lucas thought that was a strange sense of style.

"Lucas!" The girl said, standing up and getting as close as she could, the bars holding her back, a ball and chain locked to her left leg, she looked… _horrible_ , but through the reddened bloated eyes from tears he could see the same burning in her eyes that of which he felt.

She said his name again.

His mind shifted again, that feeling of rebellion, burning hotter, those feelings of anger, steadying and fading. The confusion. The desperation.

He remembered.

"Sh-Shiho."

 **A/N: This one took a LONG ASS TIME TO WRITE. I've been dealing with some family issues so I didn't have much time to write, plus I ended up making this my longest chapter. (Seriously, over 7000 words)**

 **Well, it's here, late but here. I fucking hope you enjoyed it lol.**


	22. Chapter 22

"Sh-Shiho… why are you here?" Lucas asked, instantly any hope in Shiho's eyes started draining.

"wh-what are you talking about? You were there when it happened!"

"But why did my uncle lock you up? You haven't done anything wrong." Lucas started looking around the room for a key to get her out of the cell.

"Lucas-chan… why are you acting like this? Weren't you trying to change your uncles heart?" Shiho asked.

Lucas' head briefly spike with pain and suddenly he looked uncertain. "Change his heart…" He murmured, then he shook his head. "I was, but then I realized I was on the wrong side, Nyx is the only way things will get better."

"Nyx? You mean the goddess of death? How will she make things better?" Shiho asked.

Lucas snapped his fingers. "Oh that's right! You have no idea about anything, Geeze I really should have come here earlier."

"Where's that damn-"

"Looking for this?" A voice sent a chill down Lucas' spine. Shiho let out a scream, a scream that tore into Lucas' mind sending him reeling, he was beginning to get annoyed by this, it's like his own body was fighting against him, the only good thing that happened was that he remembered he was supposed to save Shiho.

Lucas turned around pale faced as he looked at his uncle, who had a carefully neutral look on his face, in his uncles hand he held a rusted copper key.

"Uncle… I…" Lucas trailed off taking a step back, shaking a bit in fear. Christopher sighed and set the key down on a nearby table, he then walked up to Lucas, snatching his shirt.

Before Lucas could react his head was slammed into Shiho's cell bars, it was only once, but the pain nearly blacked Lucas out. "I told you not to ever come in here." Christopher said calmly. "Why have you disobeyed me?"

"I-I'm sorry! I don't know why I did it uncle! It felt like something was burning inside me, it only faded when I listened to it, I swear I didn't mean too." Lucas begged, bracing himself.

"Your rebellious acts are something I've had enough of."

"I'm sorry…" Lucas said. "But… why is Shiho locked up? She hasn't done anything wrong!"

"Hmm? Have you forgotten? She conspires with those Phantom Thieves, she seeks to ruin our plans."

"She wouldn't do that!" Lucas said, something familiar burning inside him, but he couldn't place it.

"I had thought that maybe making you experience an emotional overload would have worked, but it seems you have more resistance than I expected, there can only be one thing done."

"Wh-what thing?" Lucas asked.

"I will implant your memories back, it seems like that's the only way, that will show you the truth, that she isn't your friend." Christopher said.

Suddenly Lucas' body started burning as if an ember inside him was ignited by gasoline, every nerve in Lucas' body was screaming at him. All one cognitive word that placed itself violently in Lucas' mind.

 _No._

 _No._

 _NO._

 _NO!_

Lucas started thrashing desperately, Christopher growled something but Lucas didn't hear it, he knew _something_ wasn't right, It flashed in his mind again, more images of memories he didn't think he should have.

He was close to something… but it felt out of his reach, it felt like no matter how far he ran towards it he couldn't reach it, always just a few steps ahead of him, and it drove a burning hatred through his gut.

" **-Up!"** Lucas heard someone speak in his mind, the voice sounded familiar, an annoyed, Lucas stopped moving, numbly heard talking from Christopher.

The voice made Lucas freeze because suddenly through his mind flashed not images, but a full memory of the first time he entered a palace. His uncles palace, when Shiho was taken, the savageness in his uncles voice. The insanity when his uncle in reality nearly beat him to death.

He remembered the Phantom Thieves… teaching him to fight better, he remembered the other group of Persona users, Yukari. Junpei. Mitsuru. He remembered fighting to protect his friends-

 _Friends?_ Lucas thought. _My friends… were they…_ Lucas' eyes widened as he realized and remembered.

His friends were the Phantom thieves, he was fighting to change his uncles heart. A serial killer so he could turn himself in for his crimes, he remembered him supposed to save Makoto Yuki. The seal, which was breaking because...

Because Nyx wanted to cast despair on the entire world.

" **WAKE UP!"** The voice in his mind said again, clear as Hawaii waters. Lucas' eye's glowed yellow, and he centered his rageful, rebellious glare on the Shadow version of his uncle.

" _I'm awake."_ He said mentally to Grim Reaper, himself, his other self. His Persona.

" **Do you remember now?"**

" _Yea, sorry for losing myself for a while."_

" **Don't be sorry idiot. If you really remember, and really are sorry, then you know what you must do."**

" _Free Shiho and defeat my bastard uncle."_

Lucas kicked suddenly, the shock of it sending Christopher crashing through a nearby cells bars, impaling him on several of them he howled in rage.

"You piece of SHIT!" Lucas spat. "You manipulated my mind, made me forget who I was, tried to implant false bullshit on me." Lucas ran and snatched Shiho's cell key off the table, running and quickly unlocking her cell setting her free, she stumbled out into his arms.

"Sorry Shiho for scaring you." He whispered to her, Shiho pulled away and smiled at him, and Lucas knew she forgave him.

"Run, get out of here." He said turning away from Shiho and facing his uncle who was ripping the bars out of his body.

"But what about you?" She asked.

"I'll be fine just go!" He said quickly, Shiho nodded once and ran off, Christopher attempted to go after her but Lucas blocked his path.

"You insolent little bastard! I'll kill you and rip that shard of my master out your fucking body!" Shadow Christopher spat.

Lucas hmphed, and manifested his scythe. "I'd like to see you try you bastard." He grinned madly. "Grim Reaper come forth!" His Persona manifested behind him.

"Come at me!" Lucas challenged, his mask suddenly appearing back onto his face in a blue flame.

 **Line break.**

"Alright, were here!" Joker said, looking at the dungeons door in disgust, it's large gargoyles glaring in return at the Phantom thieves' leader.

"The key and Shiho Suzui is our objective right." Crow said. "Gargoyles on a prison door, how cliché."

"Whether it's cliché or not doesn't matter." Oracle said. "Get ready, something's coming."

The group summoned their weapons, and waited outside the door a couple of feet back, when the person burst through the door panting Panther immediately screamed.

"SHIHO!" She said, lunging into the black haired girls arms, the girl looked briefly caught off guard, but quickly came and hugged her back.

"Suzui-san? How did you escape?" Joker asked walking and placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.

She looked around at everyone in a slight daze, as if not completely believing what she was seeing, her eye's locked onto Crow who jumped a bit at the sudden attention.

"I don't know you." She said, her voice was clear and strong despite how she looked.

"G-Goro Akechi." He introduced himself, giving a slight bow. "It's uh, nice to meet you Suzui-san, though I wish under better circumstances."

"Uh, Shiho, I don't mean to bring anything down… but how'd you get free by yourself?" Skull asked.

"I didn't…" Shiho said. "Lucas freed me."

Every member of the Phantom thieves' eyes widened. "What? But he was just fighting us!" Skull said.

"I hate to admit it, but he seemed to be brainwashed by the shadow of his uncle." Fox said.

"He… was brainwashed." Shiho said. "Sort of, he was talking about Nyx, you know the goddess of death? But then his uncle showed up, started talking about some sort of conversion chamber, emotional overload stuff, some stuff about false memories I didn't understand, then Lucas kinda… broke free of whatever it was messing with him."

"Where are they now?" Mona asked, Shiho pointed back into the prisoner's dungeon.

"They are fighting right now, Lucas freed me and told me to run, and that's all I know."

"We have to go in there, for the key still, and to save Lucas, he cant fight Shadow Christopher alone." Noir said.

"Not all of us can go though." Oracle said. "Some of us have to stay so we can watch out for Shiho."

"I'm staying." Panther said immediately, she looked to Joker. "I'm sorry, but I cant leave her."

"I'm staying too." Skull said. "If anything goes down, I'll grab Shiho and run."

"I'll hang back to heal up Shiho, I think she's gonna need me more than you all." Mona said.

"I'll stay too." Oracle said. "So I can keep a look out for shadow's that might try to be cheeky."

"Alright, that means everyone else is coming with me?" Joker asked, the other's nodded in agreement. "Then let's go get our guy."

Crow, Noir, Fox, Queen and Joker sprinted into the dungeon, the stench of the air invading their nostrils, they heard a loud explosion off somewhere further in the dungeon, the shockwaves sending vibrations through Joker's body, they rounded the corner and stopped.

They're friend and Shadow Christopher were nowhere in sight however in front of them there was a massive hole that was blown out of the end of the dungeons hallway, giving an impressive view of the city, and also certain death if anyone fell out of it, Joker realized that the dungeon area of the castle had no floor protection, which meant if you cut open the floor, you'd fall into open air.

They heard coughing in one of the cells near said hole carefully walking over to it everyone let out a sigh of relief, inside the cell, dazed but conscious was Lucas, his mask was missing, likely blown off his face in the explosion, and his face was bruised, his eye blackened, his throat had a red handprint on it.

"Took you long enough." The American with attitude said with a smirk, his voice coming out in a rasp, likely from his throat injury.

"Oh my god, shut up." Joker said walking over and reaching a hand out to Lucas. "Are you back in your own mind?"

Lucas took the offered hand and picked himself up. "Am I still the most attractive person you've ever met?"

"No." Joker said dryly.

"You were supposed to say yes, then I would-"

"Lucas." Queen said in her authoritative voice, prompting the white-blonde teen to shut up, suddenly he smiled a little.

"Yes, I'm back to myself, I'm… sorry." He said, looking straight at Crow. "I… almost killed you."

Crow blinked a couple of times then shrugged his shoulders. "I know how it feels to be manipulated, no harm done."

"May I inquire as to what happened here?" Fox asked, gesturing to the behemoth sized hole of death.

"I uh… got a bit carried away." Lucas said sheepishly twirling a stray strand of his hair, "I kinda used Nobunaga's wind skill and Grim Reaper's fire skill to blow Shadow Christopher and the wall up, sending him… well, out of it."

Lucas examined the hole. "Think I killed his shadow?"

Noir answered. "No, if he did this place would be crumbling."

"So when we kill his shadow his heart will change?" Lucas asked.

"No." Crow said. "If you kill a human's shadow, you will cause a mental shutdown on that person… I should know that better than anyone."

"What's the difference between a change of heart and a mental shutdown?" Lucas asked turning back towards the group.

"A change of heart just steals the distorted desires from the person, makes them regret their bad actions, a mental shutdown takes _everything_ away, turns them into barely anything more than a zombie, or a vegetable." Queen explained.

"Someone like my uncle… deserves to lose everything." Lucas said, his amethyst eyes turning dark with rage, unsettling his friends.

"Maybe so, but there are fates worse than death… that's what I believe." Noir said, Lucas looked at her, his eye's regaining a little of their ethereal color.

"You… may be right." He nodded, looking at Joker suddenly he looked worried. "Did… did you find Shiho? Did… did you get her?"

Joker smiled and put his hand on Lucas' shoulder. "We got her, don't worry."

Lucas visibly relaxed, allowing a relieved smile to come to his face. "That's… so good."

"We should hurry up and get back to the others." Queen said.

"Wait, what about they key?" Fox asked.

"I agree, we need it to progress through that locked door." Noir said.

"I didn't see it at all when we were running through here though… could we have been wrong in our assumptions?" Crow wondered.

"Oh, I have it." Lucas said pulling it out of his pocket, it's diamonds shimmering even in the darkened room. "I nicked it off my uncles shadow while we were trading blows."

"Nice job!" Queen said, taking the key from him and putting it in her pocket. "Alright we got all the keys, we should head back for today, we got Shiho and-"

A piercing scream echoed throughout the dungeon sending a chill down Lucas' spine.

"That was Suzui-san!" Noir said, worry in her eyes.

"Hell no! I did not save her just for her to get captured again!" Lucas began sprinting back the way they came, the rest of the group right on his heels.

Lucas burst through the entrance doors, down back at ground level he saw his friends surrounded by what had to be at least twenty shadows, being led by no one other than the shadow version of Lucas.

"Shit!" Joker said beside him looking down. "Why the hell did they go down there! We'll never make it in time."

"Start running, we have to try!" Crow said already moving, the rest of the group behind him.

Except Lucas, Noir turned and noticed Lucas wasn't following them. "Lucas come on we have to go!"

Lucas didn't answer, instead he looked at the group and took a deep breath. "I know, I have an idea, a stupid idea… but it might work." His mask appeared back onto his face, and he stepped up onto the railing.

"What are you doing dude?!" Joker said. Lucas-now King took a deep breath.

"Improvising." King stepped off the railing, instantly he started plummeting to the cold hard ground.

 _I hope what worked for the Kirijo Group works for me!_ He thought righting himself to where his feet were pointed towards the ground.

"Alright, all or nothing! Grim Reaper!" King called, his Persona manifesting under him and catching him in the air, King balanced himself out on the blade of his Persona's large scythe and began riding all the way down, wind whipping past his face.

" **That was really stupid you know."** Grim Reaper spoke in his mind, King grinned.

" _Since when did you get so talkative?"_ He shot back.

 **Line Break**

"That guy is crazy." Joker mumbled to himself, Arsene chuckled in his mind, shocking him, Arsene rarely ever spoke to him in any way.

" **He reminds me of myself."** Arsene said, Joker could almost hear the smirk in his voice.

" _I don't know how I feel about that since you're also a part of me."_ Joker said to Arsene, who didn't respond.

Joker sighed and took the lead a desire to show off seizing him as he started sliding down the stairs guardrail, a wicked smirk on his face.

 **Line break**

"Grim Reaper! Scatter those shadows!" King yelled, jumping off his Persona and landing on his feet as his Persona slammed his scythe into the ground sending all the shadows flying, also making some of them dizzy and confused.

King got back to back with everyone on the ground. Forming a human shield around Shiho. "Hey guys, sorry I'm late, got a little held up."

"Dude we so gotta talk about how the hell you just did that later! But for now, we gotta kick some ass!" Skull said, fist bumping King.

"Glad to have you back King!" Panther said ruffling King's messy hair.

"Less reunion, more fighting!" Mona said, earning shouts of affirmation from the surrounded group.

"They're rushing us! Heads up guys!" Oracle said.

Shadow's rushed at the group, King took his scythe and slammed it into the ground blocking one shadow, calling his straight sword he stabbed another shadow to his left in the head, before kicking the shadow he blocked with the scythe taking said weapon and chopping the head off of the shadow.

Skull rushed out of the circle briefly and started spinning, screaming woo ho as he held his club out straight in front of him pulverizing any shadows stupid enough to get near.

Ann stayed as close to Shiho as possible, setting ablaze any shadow in sight, Mona using wind to double the strength of the attack, at one point briefly creating a flaming tornado.

They jumped back to the circle. "Damnit…" King panted. "There's too many of them, the more we kill the more appear."

"At this rate we're gonna lose, there has to be something we can do…" Panther cried.

"Need some help guys?!" Joker called suddenly spinning In the air as he brought out his dagger and landed in the midst of the shadows.

"Come to daddy!" Joker said, Arsene appearing behind him. "Strike! Maegion!" Arsene eviscerated a fair amount of the shadows around him, but Joker found himself quickly surrounded with new ones.

"Daddy? Oh god." Queen shook her head as she rode Johanna into battle, running over any shadows (which were a lot) in her way.

"Taste my wrath!" Crow said, Robin hood firing arrows while Crow himself sliced and diced with his saber, Noir and her Persona back to back with him popping shadows with Milady's Gatling gun and Noir's grenade launcher.

"Oh my, this is quite therapeutic." Noir said, everyone sweat dropping again.

Oracle had gotten a bit separated from the group, however Fox had cut his way to her savagely. "You're blood will suffice for my art." He said, Goemon was defending Oracle from any attacking shadows.

"Tch." Shadow Lucas made a noise for the first time since they all got there. "Ten, eleven ten thousand thieves it wont make any difference, I'm going to kill all of you, for my uncle."

"I pity you." King said. "And trust me when I pity someone it's sad. You're nothing but a slave to that bastard you call an uncle, he only keeps you around because you're a pawn, he tried to brainwash me so I should know."

"That isn't true." Shadow Lucas snarled. "You are nothing but a failed goddamn experiment, the conversion chamber didn't work because even you are to foolish for it to have any effect."

"When I find that room with that damn pod again, I'm going to burn it to metallic ash." King snarled.

"Not if I kill you!" Shadow Lucas said, suddenly he started writing on the ground in pain, cursing as he did so, blood dripped from his mouth, and when he coughed black and red blood mixed with it.

Shadow Lucas looked up with an insane smirk, he had transformed into a sickening creature, the left side of his body resembled a wolf, extending jaw, fangs, clawed hairy arms and hands, mangy hair, and the other half was still normal.

"Hah, look at you, cant even switch now, you really think you can beat all of us?" Joker said.

"We shall end this quickly, you freak of nature, open that door, and beat the shit outta your master!" Skull said.

"Shut uppp." Shadow Lucas said, his voice a slur as he laughed brokenly. "I still have a few tricks up my sleeve! I'll kill all of you!" Shadow Lucas held his wolf hand out, suddenly all the shadow's around them started dying and getting sucked into shadow Lucas' hand, creating a large red and black circular mass.

"Get ready guys!" Mona said, "he's about to try something!

"Prepare for the surprise of your life!" Shadow Lucas said. "That chamber isn't just for brainwashing, I was in a second one nearby, I was connected directly to you! It's what allowed you to summon shadows, which you lost by the way when you broke free of the brainwashing, however… I KEPT MY LITTLE GIFT!"

The black and red mass stopped forming, and Shadow Lucas shoved it into his chest, black and red beams of energy exploded out of his body and around him, the pressure cracking nearby pillars. Shadow Lucas screamed and laughed at the same time.

Suddenly the multiple black and red beams faded away, leaving Shadow Lucas glowing black and red, Blood dripped off his face, his eyes were bleeding mouth nose and ears, but he still had that sick grin on his face.

"I must thank you!" Shadow Lucas spat, blood and spittle flying from his mouth. "For the gift you gave me!"

"I do not like where this is going…" King mumbled.

"AND YOU SHOULDN'T!" Shadow Lucas screeched, his voice distorted voice scratching.

" **Watch out master."** Grim Reaper spoke in King's mind.

"BECAUSE I'M GOING TO KILL YOU WITH YOUR OWN POWER!" He finished, he punched the ground cracking it all around him, looking up he opened his mouth to speak.

Every single Phantom thieves blood ran ice cold.

"KILL THEM ALL, MAGATSU GRIM REAPER!"

 **A/N: Cliffhanger san strikes again! Enjoy this chapter fellas, started off slow because I wasn't sure how to go about it, but I believe I picked it up at the end well enough!**


	23. Chapter 23

"A Persona?! Holy shit!" Skull yelled, Shadow Lucas laughed brokenly as Magatsu Grim Reaper floated behind him, a devilish smirk on his face, his cloak was all red instead black as well as being less tattered, part of him was also still flesh instead of just bone, the left side of him resembling a pale human with one charcoal eye on its bone side and one blood red eye.

Magatsu Grim Reapers weapon of choice were two mini scythes, One black blade with a cursed essence around it, the blood red skull engraved blade on fire.

"Calamity…" Queen mumbled, looking at her foe with a hint of fear in her eyes.

"Right, that's what Magatsu means, a calamity…." Fox confirmed, his emotions concealed under the cool demeanor not unlike the ice he controlled.

" **My Brother… Tch, jealousy raged inside him that I held the throne and not him, and tried to overthrow me, so I burned one half of his body to death and sent him into Tartarus."** Grim Reaper explained in his mind.

Shadow Lucas screamed in pain, and Magatsu Grim Reaper attacked, a great wall of fire coming right at the Phantom thieves.

"Get behind me!" Fox yelled, jumping in front of the group, he summoned Goemon and made him put up a wall of ice which blocked the fire. Fox stumbled a bit, drained from the effort as he jumped back to his teammates side.

" _Thanks for the history lesson but that isn't gonna help, he's you're twin right? Same name and everything so you should know something about him. Some kinda weakness."_ King said in his mind to Grim Reaper.

" **I know, but I will not tell you anything until you appreciate what I told you!"** Grim Reaper snarked.

Magatsu Grim Reaper and Shadow Lucas appeared behind the group and attacked, the former locking his left scythe with Crow and the right with Skull, both straining against the effort.

Shadow Lucas was swinging recklessly at literally _everyone else_ except Panther (Who was protecting Shiho). King parried his shadow's clawed hand and slashed his scythe across his body, Shadow Lucas grunted in pain however he instantly regenerated.

"Are you shitting me!?" King said backflipping away from his foe, Joker rushed up and got in close, delivering three stabs of his dagger before Shadow Lucas grabbed him and threw him into Fox sending them both to the floor.

"HYAAAH!" Noir gave a battle cry and brought her axe down Shadow Lucas side stepped out of the way and brought his clawed hand across her face, slamming her into the ground, Noir yelled in pain and summoned her Persona, Astarte shot at Shadow Lucas forcing him to retreat.

Magatsu Grim Reaper broke the weapon lock and swung at Crow and Skull, hitting them and sending them both flying, they hit the ground with a grunt and a thud.

" _NOW IS NOT THE TIME FOR THIS GRIM, FUCKING TELL ME!"_ King shouted at his Persona in his mind.

" **Hmm, rude. Fine, listen closely master, I'm only going to tell you once."** Grim Reaper told King Magatsu Grim Reapers weakness and his eye's widened.

" _But we don't have a Persona with an attack like that! How the hell are we supposed to beat him?"_ King asked.

" **You do have one, she just hasn't awakened yet."** Grim Reaper said snidely, King could almost hear the smirk on his face.

"Wait…" King mumbled. "Shiho?" He looked at Shiho, who was silently cowering behind Panther, one hand on her chest as she looked, her face pinched with worry.

 _How am I going to get her to awaken right now?_ King thought, which was a mistake, in that second of lost focus Shadow Lucas barreled up to him and attacked his werewolf fist colliding with his face, King's mind exploded with pain as he was sent into a pillar like a rocket.

"Lucas!" Shiho screamed, leaving Panther's side in an attempt to run over to him.

"SHIHO NO!" Panther screamed, Joker cursed and started to run.

Shadow Lucas grinned madly.

"Persona! Grab the bitch!" He commanded, Magatsu Grim Reaper flew over and grabbed her before she could get any further, Joker stopped running as she was yanked over to Shadow Lucas' side.

"Alright, that's enough of that." Shadow Lucas said cockily. Everyone in the room froze, the fight instantly forgotten about.

"Damnit Shiho…" Skull mumbled, only loud enough for himself to hear.

"So." Shadow Lucas said. "Here's what's going to happen, those keys? Give em' all here, right now or I kill the slave."

"I'm no slave!" Shiho yelled trying to yank out of the Calamified Persona's grasp. "Let me go damnit!"

Shadow Lucas slapped Shiho, the resounding clap loud enough to resound throughout the entire room, Panther's chest pinched with rage.

"Shut you're mouth you worthless prat." Shadow Lucas seethed, barely contained insanity in his eyes. "Actually, maybe your not worthless. You're reasonably pretty, so you may have some use as my personal whore."

Shiho whimpered, Panther broke. "I'LL KILL YOU, YOU SON OF A BITCH!" She attacked, summoning Carmen she smacked Shadow Lucas with the edge of her whip, opening up a large gash on his cheek as Carmen lit him ablaze.

Shiho tried to run back to Panther, but through the flames Shadow Lucas grabbed her and shoved her to the ground, getting on top of her he looked at her lewdly.

"Little bitch." He leered at her, The Phantom thieves rushed at him, But suddenly Magatsu Grim Reaper let out a loud scream that shook the building, Panther and the rest of the group suddenly felt an agonizing fear shake their bodies and they scrambled backwards to get away from the demonic Persona.

"H-holy s-shit." Skull stuttered.

"I-I cant do this anymore!" Oracle said, putting her hands over her head and whimpered.

"Oh, oh my god no… nononononono." Mona chanted in the fetal position.

"M-me, afraid?" Crow said.

"C-can we really do this?" Queen asked.

Joker didn't speak, nor did Noir, they were to busy shaking in fear.

Shadow Lucas laughed. "Quiver in fear! Ghastly wail!" appearing under the afflicted group a black and red circle engraved with Kanji exploded, instantly knocking out all the phantom thieves.

A penetrating silence suddenly came across the battlefield, the only sound being Shadow Lucas' heavy breathing. He grinned madly at his fallen foes.

"That's it? Ha… ha-ha…." He began laughing softly, his soft snicker rapidly descending into maddened peals of laughter.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH, that's it?!" He repeated. "That's all the legendary phantom thieves can do!? PATHETIC!"

"No… guys!" Shiho screamed, whimpering again when Shadow Lucas glared at her.

"Shut up. When I finish them off you and me are gonna have a little fun, you are nothing but a slave to be enjoyed to my liking." He leered at her, stroking his hand across her cheek.

Shiho in an act of rebellion bit his hand, Shadow Lucas grunted in pain before backhanding her hard.

She didn't make a sound. "Tch." Shadow Lucas scoffed. "You better get you're act together, you wouldn't want to lose all your teeth before you suck my-"

A black scythe came flying out of nowhere cutting off Shadow Lucas' words, reacting quickly he commanded Magatsu Grim Reaper to block it and knock it out of the way.

"Heh… heh-heh, I should have known you were still conscious, my other." Shadow Lucas said to King. Who had picked himself up off the ground.

King didn't respond, just switched to Orpheus, Shadow Lucas looked into his others eyes, and a flash of fear pierced his chest.

He offered up a shaky grin. "All quiet huh? No smart remarks or snarky comebacks?" Shadow Lucas taunted, trying to mask the fear rapidly growing as he continued staring into the real Lucas' eyes.

They were calm, strikingly so, _unnaturally_ so, and King was quiet, _unnaturally_ quiet, even as he called his straight sword, his eye's were changing, going from amethyst to black in small increments.

"Tch." Shadow Lucas scoffed again, his heart hammering in his chest. "Something's different about you." He said, that was when he noticed it.

Behind King himself was a completely shadowed humanoid figure, it wasn't a Persona, it was something more, something deadly but at the same time felt familiar, the second Shadow Lucas blinked however it was gone, and replaced with it was that machine Persona.

Like a lightning bolt King attacked, he seemed to flash across the battlefield, within a nanosecond he was swinging his blade at his shadow form, the latter being unable to block in time as he took a direct slash from it, black mist spilled from the large wound suddenly spanning around his entire torso.

Orpheus attacked Magatsu Grim Reaper, a howling noise coming from him as he swung his lyre down like it was a sword, cracking down on the calamified Persona's head, rearing back Orpheus then sent a hard kick into the Persona, sending it flying.

Shadow Lucas groaned in pain and collapsed to a knee, he looked up into the eyes of his other and once again they changed, no… not just his eyes, suddenly he found himself staring at a boy with blue hair covering his right eye, before quickly fading back into King himself.

"Wh-what was that?" He mumbled, just before he was kicked hard again sending him flying into a pillar himself completely breaking it in half, the foundation being supported by it collapsing onto him.

King watched with a focused gaze, gripping his sword harder as the shadow version of himself suddenly burst out of the rubble, flying at him with breakneck speeds. Shadow Lucas reared back and struck with his wolf hand, King raising his sword to block.

However, King realized to late that the attack was a feint, and suddenly he felt two scythes slice into his left side, blood spilled out over the floor as he gripped his side, Orpheus disappeared as he jumped back, collapsing to a single knee. A chill involuntarily went down Shadow Lucas' spine as he realized even though he was definitely in pain, King didn't make a single sound when hit.

"Lucas are you okay?!" Shiho yelled, King finally reacted a little, his eyes widening a fraction as he looked at Shiho, he seemed to have forgotten about her, but when he made eye contact he tried to stand up, only to fall down to a knee again, his energy completely spent.

Shadow Lucas' blood boiled. "I don't know quite what the hell happened to you just now, or where you suddenly got all that power from, but it seems your fresh out whatever it was."

Shadow Lucas strode over to Shiho and grabbed her again, this time Shiho fought back even more aggressively than before. Kicking at her perpetrator.

"Stop it." Shadow Lucas raised his hand again, Shiho flinched away and stopped fighting instantly her shoulder's slumping in defeat, it was a pitiful sight.

"Good." Shadow Lucas lowered his hand and called Magatsu Grim Reaper. "Finish them off, kill my other first."

"Are you just gonna lay down and take it?" King asked suddenly, the first words and sound he had spoken and made since he started acting strange, it took a moment for them to realize he was talking to Shiho.

Another loathsome chill went down Shadow Lucas' spine. Even the bastards voice was too calm.

"Slave, nothing, worthless… Are you going to allow that to shape who you are?" King asked, that dangerous calm still in his voice. "Or are you going to carve your own path?"

Shadow Lucas saw it again, even more brief than before, his other seemingly transforming into someone else, however, this one appeared as a teenager with slicked back black hair, and a beauty mark under his left eye, it faded out and Shadow Lucas' chest burned with anxiety, that… person felt familiar, someone terrifying.

"I… Don't want to be controlled anymore!" Shiho said. "I refuse to allow someone else to tell me what to do, to decide what I am!"

"Then stand up." King said. "Show me you're resolve!"

Shiho's eye's suddenly pulsed yellow, and agony coursed through her head, she cried out as she fell to her knees. Shadow Lucas tried to grab her again but a burst of wind coming from her sent him flying backwards.

"What the hell?" Shadow Lucas sneered.

" **Tch, it was so pitiful watching you be so pathetic the water's cried out for you, however you were to afraid to listen, are you finally deciding to fight back for yourself?"**

"Yes…" Shiho groaned out, she looked up, and on her face appeared a blue mask that resembled a wave.

" **Good, then let us form a pact, I am thou! Thou art I! And hence forth shall use my power, to change the tides of the battle, to change the tides of you're fate! Take the calm water's within you're soul and release the fiery tsunami underneath!"**

"I… I will! I will not let you force me to be you're plaything!" Shiho declared, grabbing her mask using all her strength to rip the mask off her face, blood dripped from her face as she screamed, a blue fire massing around her entire body.

"Shit here we go…" Shadow Lucas mumbled standing up as Shiho came out of the fire, her clothes were changed from her tattered outfit into a blue wavy tunic that covered her breasts, leaving her midriff exposed, she wore blue leather gloves that had a sea blue cloth hanging off them, similar to an Egyptian goddess outfit, she also wore a blue green mini skirt with black leggings, as well as small pearl earrings and soft blue lipstick and eyeshadow.

In her left hand she held a large silver harpoon with a jagged pointed tip, behind her was her Persona, a man with a muscular stature and sleek wavy black hair and a thick trimmed beard, instead of fire however it was water that the Persona seemed to exist around.

"Poseidon…" Shiho whispered in awe

"Shiho…" Panther whispered (Who had regained consciousness). "You look so beautiful…"

King had to agree, he stared mildly slack-jawed at her, completely unable to take his eye's off her, Shiho suddenly smirked and spun her harpoon, and stared daggers at Shadow Lucas.

"A water-based Persona…" Mona whispered in awe. "I didn't think they existed anymore."

"What happened to them?" Joker asked.

"I… don't know honestly." Mona admitted. "I just have this innate knowledge that water Persona's supposedly were lost somehow, it's… almost as rare as the wild card ability if not more."

"Shiho-san… is a truly special girl then." Crow acknowledged.

"It doesn't matter how special you are!" Shadow Lucas growled savagely. "I'm still gonna kill you!"

"Hmph." Shiho scoffed. "You can try." She spun around and put her hand to her mask.

"Resuscitate, Poseidon!" She commanded, a cool blue aura surrounded all her allies on the battlefield closing their wounds and giving them renewed strength.

"All our wounds are healed!?" Skull asked in shock.

"It also seems that our stamina is back to normal as well." Noir noticed.

"That's… an extremely broken skill!" Oracle said.

"That just shows how graceful the waters can be, a beautiful symphony of a blue color." Fox said.

"That's…. that's bullshit!" Shadow Lucas snarled, he slammed his hand into the ground Magatsu Grim Reaper manifested beside him.

"You're so… sad." King said, standing up, swinging his sword once. "To think… he could have ended up like this if he hadn't found these people around him…"

"He?" Queen caught on to the slip-up. "Uh King… are you okay?"

"Oh! Sorry my apologies." King bowed a bit, surprising the Phantom thieves. "My manners have clearly not returned yet, I am the anthropomorphic personification of death, my name is Ryoji Mochizuki, I am here to help."

Silence….

Joker blinked once, twice. "I'm sorry, WHAT THE FUCK?!"

 **A/N: Well then hope you enjoyed this chapter, and the little bombshell I dropped at the end :D**

 **I had so much fun writing Shiho's awakening, I liked even more than Lucas' THREE and that's saying something, I really liked Shiho as a character and wished that she had more of a role in the story.**

 **Also about this story: I put up a poll on my profile, on whether Lucas should have a romantic interest or not (OR if he was in love with pizza but that's more of a gag option.) So make sure to check that out.**


	24. Chapter 24

"Okay!" Lucas(Ryoji) said cheerily. "Now that introductions are out of the way, all of you sit back and relax, me and the beautiful girl here got this." He sent a wink Shiho's way, the latter rolling her eyes.

"Wa-wait a damn minute!" Joker demanded. "You can't just do that!"

Lucas(Ryoji) chuckled softly. "I clearly need to explain myself, don't worry though! After we handle this I promise to explain everything." With those words said Lucas(Ryoji) turned on his heel and strode over to Shiho's side.

"You're… shitting me." Skull said. "Did that really just happen?"

"Yes Skull. Yes, it did." Queen sighed, rubbing her temples.

"Don't mind me…" Panther mumbled. "Just going to sit here and watch."

"Should we really just stand here like Dragon ball Super characters though?" Oracle asked.

"I think it will be okay." Crow said. "It's strange but… I feel we can trust him."

 **Line break.**

"Hello, beautiful!" Lucas (Ryoji) Said in greeting to the new Persona user.

"You are not Lucas-chan obviously, so who are you?" Shiho demanded.

"My name is Ryoji-"

"I know that, I heard you're introduction. I mean _Who_ are you?"

Lucas (Ryoji) smiled. "A friend."

"Hey!" Shadow Lucas yelled. "We're still fighting here!"

Lucas (Ryoji) glanced in his direction and smiled again, however this smile wasn't friendly or flirtatious, it was cold. And rude. "Of course, my apologies."

Suddenly he was behind Shadow Lucas, who turned just in time to get launched into Shiho's direction, he recovered quickly, spinning in the air and aiming a kick at Shiho.

Shiho jumped out of the way and stabbed Shadow Lucas through the chest with her harpoon, he yelled in pain as a black mist burst through the wound, his scream calling Magatsu Grim Reaper who swung his weapons at Shiho's face, too close for her to dodge.

Suddenly his attack was countered by Orpheus who appeared beside her it knocked the calamified persona backwards as Orpheus smacked it across the face with his lyre, Shiho looked back and made eye contact with Lucas (Ryoji) who smiled and nodded once, Shiho jumped back and brought her mask to her face.

"Drown him, Aqua!" She commanded, a whirlpool started to form around Shadow Lucas, stumbling him a little bit.

"This is all you got?!" Shadow Lucas snarked. "A little water isn't gonna sca-"He stopped talking as his eyes widened, the whirlpool enveloped his entire body, suddenly he started screaming in pain, writhing as he dragged himself out of the water.

Instantly he collapsed to his knees, Magatsu Grim Reaper disappeared and Shadow Lucas was left coughing and gasping. Shiho jumped into the air as Lucas (Ryoji) dashed under her and stabbed his sword into Shadow Lucas' stomach

Shadow Lucas gargled in pain, but he wasn't done yet, suddenly he snarled and grabbed the blade of the sword, blood springing from the area he was gripping. Lucas (Ryoji) stared in shock as he watched his foe with the sword in his chest stand up and yank it out, Lucas (Ryoji) was dragged forward, Shadow Lucas slammed his head down onto his other's face in a hard headbutt.

Lucas (Ryoji) fell to the floor unmoving, blood dripped out of his nose, Shadow Lucas smirked at the ground then turned to Shiho, Magatsu Grim reaper appeared behind him.

Joker and the rest of the phantom thieves made to jump into the action but before he could Shadow Lucas suddenly seemed to double over in pain.

A black mist suddenly exploded out from the entirety of Shadow Lucas' midsection, Joker watched in horror as the top half of Shadow Lucas' body disconnected from his legs, hitting the floor with a sickening thud.

Behind him was Lucas (Ryoji) glaring down at the rapidly disappearing form of his own shadow.

"I'm sure as the apprentice of a serial killer you learned to make sure you're enemy was down for good, seems like you forgot that detail." He said to Shadow Lucas.

He raised his hand and opened his mouth as if to speak, but no sound would come out, Lucas (Ryoji) Shook his head and sighed. "Go back to the darkness rouge shadow, until you're time comes."

Shadow Lucas' hand didn't even hit the floor, he burst into a black mist that quickly faded out, leaving the entire room in nothing but an acute silence.

Lucas (Ryoji) looked around at the people surrounding him. "Hello everyone." He said politely, shooting winks at all the girls in the room. "So many beautiful women in the room, today's my lucky day."

"This woman is taken." Queen said, crossing her arms over her chest, Joker moved to stand beside her and glared daggers at his American friend.

"Your in his body but you aren't him. You said you're name was Ryoji. Calling yourself the anthropomorphic personification of death. That means Nyx. Are you Nyx?" He demanded, prompting Lucas (Ryoji) to lift his hands in surrender and shake his head.

"Goodness no, not at all. I…. well, I'm her son." He said.

Joker abruptly collapsed to the floor, sitting cross-legged with his hands buried in his hair. "This is so fucking confusing…" He mumbled, then looked up at Lucas (Ryoji) again.

"So… you said you are here to help." Joker asked.

"Correct."

"Help how?"

Lucas (Ryoji) smiled. "Well, to free my friend from his burden as the seal, and to hopefully also save you're brown haired friend. The one with the pointy mask."

"Save me?" Crow echoed. "Save me from what?"

"I assume you know about the shards of death that are currently residing in this body and yours correct?" he asked, everyone around the room nodded in confirmation. But Queen put her hand up as if she was a student again.

"Excuse me, but how do you know we know?" She asked, Lucas (Ryoji) tapped his head.

"Two reasons, one: Because I have access to you're friends memories, so I just kinda guessed."

"And the second?" Mona asked.

"The second reason being the fact that I am the shard that resides inside this body." He said.

Joker stood up and threw his hands into the air. "I'm done!" He announced, making to walk away.

Lucas (Ryoji) Laughed hard. "Let me explain." He said in between chuckle, Joker grumbling and sitting back down, Queen rubbing his head as a way of comfort. "Right before the fall was supposed to happen-something I or Mitsuru will explain later- I gave Makoto Yuki a choice, for him and all his friends to lose all memories of Persona's and yada-yada so he could live in peace before the fall, or he could try to stop it, likely knowing he'd fail."

"I'm assuming since were here currently he chose to try and stop it and succeeded." Panther said.

"Correct beautiful." Lucas (Ryoji) said with a flirty smile. "Either way… I would have had to go back to my mother, even though I didn't want to."

"So how'd you get away then?" Oracle asked.

"Well, Makoto Yuki of course, when he sacrificed his life to become the seal in an act of desperation Nyx sent a shard filled with her own essence to someone in the world, I used the opportunity to escape myself and went to someone at random, that someone being you're friend. It's an incredible stroke of luck for him to also be a wildcard."

"So that shard inside me… is Nyx herself?" Crow asked.

"Yes and no, obviously it's not her full power, but she's there, slowly taking control, I believe her end goal is to force someone to take her place somehow, and you're just the unlucky guy to be that one." Lucas (Ryoji) confirmed.

"But that's not right." Skull said suddenly.

"Oh?"

"Yea I mean, Crow said it himself, Nyx came to him herself and-"

"Saved his life…" Lucas (Ryoji) finished. "Yea… I remember you telling that story, then it wasn't random for her. She chose you. I wonder why… weren't you also a wild card too?"

"I… am again. I suddenly gained the ability back." Crow said. "However, it isn't Loki that returned to me."

"I see…" Lucas (Ryoji) Pondered for a moment, then gave a level stare to Crow. "I don't know for sure, but do not use the wild card power no matter what, you can use you're initial Persona. But don't use the others, she could possibly take control the more you use it so don't take the chance at all."

"I… I understand." Crow agreed.

"Good." Lucas (Ryoji) sighed in relief. "Now that-that's over i-" Suddenly he hissed in pain and leaned forward a bit, clutching his head in pain.

"What's going on?" Shiho asked stepping forward. "Are you okay?"

"I-I'm fine, my time is just up, your friend Lucas is about to take control back, he won't remember any of this so fill him in alright?" He said, suddenly his eyes rolled back into his head and he tumbled to the floor.

Noir and Fox strode over to him, Fox kneeling down beside him and checking his pulse. "He's unconscious, but he seems to be fine other than that."

Noir pulled him into a sitting position, Lucas mumbled and stirred a bit but didn't move otherwise. "He's heavy, and quite well toned." Noir said, running a gloved hand up and down his torso.

"O-okay that's enough of that." Crow coughed into his hand, striding over and wrapping one of Lucas' arms around his neck. The rest of the group internally smirking at Crow's reaction.

"On a side note… How long has it been since he's slept?" Panther asked concerned, rubbing Lucas' hair affectionately.

"Probably since before we came in here the last time, poor guy's probably exhausted." Oracle said despondently.

"I'll help carry him." Skull said stepping forward and taking Lucas' right arm.

Lucas mumbled something intelligible and sniffled in his sleep.

"Is… is he crying?" Queen asked taking a closer look, her eye's suddenly widened when she saw a tear fall from Lucas' left eye.

"He is!" Mona said in surprise. "What's wrong with him?"

"mom… momma…" Lucas cried out in his sleep. "why did you leave me…"

A despondent air creeped over the phantom thieves, Crow clenched his fist in sympathy, Queen turned away to hide the sudden emotion rising in her, Oracle blinked away tears and Fox sighed in sadness.

"He's gone through too much… it's so unfair, and now he's supposed to do all these crazy things without an understanding on how to do it." Mona said.

"It's fucking bullshit is what it is." Skull said angrily. "He shouldn't have to deal with the loss of his family, depression and an abusive batshit crazy serial killer uncle."

"I concur in those thoughts, that… bastard deserves to be sent to hell." Fox said, everyone stared at him in shock save for Shiho, Fox rarely ever used curse words.

"While I agree he's horrible. We don't kill." Joker said. "Even if he does deserve it, we didn't kill Kamoshida, We didn't kill Madarame, not even Kaneshiro or Shido. We don't kill, we make them pay.

"I agree… Leader." Lucas suddenly said startling the group, he gazed at Joker with a steel determination that sent a chill down his spine.

"You're awake." Skull said letting him go, Crow doing the same, Lucas swayed a bit before righting himself, he looked terrible, his hair was even more of a mess than normal, he was slightly hunched, his face was bruised and his eye's had shadow's so thick it looked like charcoal makeup.

"I… don't really remember what happened after I got thrown into that pillar." Lucas admitted sheepishly. The Phantom thieves looked around at each other awkwardly.

"Uh, we'll explain everything to you. For now though let's just get out of here." Joker said pulling his phone from his pocket.

"Return to reality." Joker said, Lucas winced as the cognitive world shattered around them slowly warping back to reality, when reality settled itself Lucas was minorly surprised to find himself in the attic of Leblanc, Akira's room.

Suddenly Lucas' senses were assaulted by the smell of coffee, so strong it made Lucas nauseous, he gagged a bit and put his left hand on the wall beside him, willing himself not to vomit.

"You alright?" Shiho asked.

"Ugh… I'm fine… just tired, my senses feel like they're on overdrive." He said, sending a reassuring smile her way.

"That's no surprise, you're sleep deprived and you've been in the metaverse for an unnaturally long period." Makoto said.

"I… really want to just go home and go to sleep." Lucas complained.

"No can do, for multiple reasons." Morgana said.

"Oh for f-… what reasons?" Lucas asked, collapsing on the couch beside Akira.

"Hmm, let's see here, how about the fact that you're uncle tried to kill you, and likely has realized by now that he hasn't and will likely finish the job if you go back there?" Futaba said sarcastically.

"And also because we need to tell you about what happened while you were unconscious and possessed." Akira said.

"I… know I tried to kill Akechi." Lucas said with a bit of Chagrin. "But that's about it."

"Heh, then buckle down bud. You're in for a bit of a mindfuck." Ryuji said.

Lucas groaned.

 **LINE BREAK**

"I… my head hurts." Lucas complained once they were finished explaining, it didn't take to long, but learning the news of an unwatched tape they acquired and the fact that there's another soul inside Lucas' body just made him want to crawl into a hole and call it a day.

"I feel you dude…" Ryuji sympathized. "I was awake and the shit still confuses me."

"Well that's just because you're an idiot Ryuji." Morgana quipped prompting a glare from the dyed blonde.

"You wanna go you stupid cat?" He growled taking a threatening step forward, Morgana hissed in response.

"Quick question before you guy's fight." Lucas said catching everyone's attention. "If I cant go back home because of my uncle where am I going to sleep, I cant sleep here it's too close."

"I… have an idea." Akechi proposed, everyone looked at him. "You could stay at my place, Okumura-san… helped me acquire it, it's a penthouse just outside of Chinatown."

"That's not a bad idea." Makoto said.

"It's far, and it would be quite difficult to ascertain the location of it, assuming of course it's under a false name." Yusuke said.

"It is." Akechi confirmed. "in fact… it's in Okumura-sans name."

"Oh really?" Akira said in genuine surprise. "That's very kind of you Haru."

"Well, prior to that he was living in a… less than spectacular homeless shelter." Haru said.

Akechi made a noise of embarrassment, not entirely comfortable with discussion about his past lodgings. "W-well regardless the offer is there, I was just about to head there now."

"I… think I'll take that offer, but I'll have to wake up early to go to school." Lucas said.

"Dude you're seriously thinking about school right _now_?" Ann said in disbelief.

"I approve." Makoto said with a prideful smile. "It means he's serious about his studies."

"Yea, but there's a couple of problems to that." Morgana said.

"Such as?"

"Well Lucas is not currently wearing his school uniform, and all he has is the clothes on his back."

"That… is true." Lucas admitted sheepishly. "I don't even have my phone anymore."

"Actually here." Futaba suddenly threw Lucas' phone to him, he made a noise of shock as he caught it and looked it over.

"It's… not cracked." Lucas said with some surprise, turning the phone over examining it.

"You're welcome." Futaba said with a grin. "I also added all of our contact info into it 'sides Shiho's and added you to the group chat, from now on when you need us or we send an update about a palace you'll get it to."

"I… uh… thanks I guess." Lucas said, placing the phone in his pocket and standing up, stretching and yawning. "it's 9:30 now. How long will it take to get to Chinatown?"

"About an hour, you can sleep on the train too, I'll watch out for you." Akechi said.

"Wait- wait!" Morgana mewled jumping off the table and landing in front of the staircase. "You still don't have any school clothes, screw that no clothes at all!"

"Oh… right." Lucas mumbled, thinking for a moment he snapped his fingers. "I'll just go home and get them."

"That is not going to happen." Akira said, he strode over to a closet and started rummaging through, suddenly he pulled out an old suitcase and opened it up, then he continued rummaging.

"Um, my love? What are you doing?" Makoto asked.

"I'm looking for…. AH HA! Found it!" Akira suddenly pulled out an old school uniform.

A Shujin Academy uniform. "Oh my god please don't tell me…" Lucas said shaking his head.

"Hey man it's washed, and it's either this or you don't go to school tomorrow." Akira said, a shit eating grin on his face.

Lucas groaned but walked over and snatched it anyway, roughly stuffing it into the suitcase mumbling something about 'looking like a total dork.'

"Hey man." Akira said in mock offense. "Just because you're taller than me doesn't mean you'll look like a dork."

"I'm six feet tall dude…" Lucas mumbled, Akira snickered.

"Alright, now that that's out of the way can we go?" Akechi asked.

"The rest of us are gonna stay behind, it's movie night." Futaba said.

"It is?" Ryuji asked, a subtle (not really) kick from Ann made him wince. "Agh, it is! I totally forgot."

Lucas raised an eyebrow but didn't question it, just shook his head and walked downstairs with Akechi suitcase in hand.

The familiar jingle of LeBlanc's bell brought little comfort as the duo stepped out into the still cold weather march brought, a sudden gust of wind made Lucas shiver.

"It's rather cold out." Akechi said awkwardly, Lucas gave him a sideways glance, there was a tension that couldn't be denied, They walked in silence to the train station, the sound of the suitcase wheels being the only sound in the surprisingly silent night.

"Yea." Lucas said stiffly, he looked around the train station, there weren't a lot of people around, in fact just a group of four, they were all looking at their phones in a panic.

 _What's that about?_ Lucas thought briefly before shrugging it off. _Probably just regular teenage drama, something I wish I had._

"That many people… killed." One girl of the group said, black hair tied in a ponytail. Lucas' frozen ears twitched a little, and he glanced at Akechi who looked back and nodded.

 _He's listening. Good._

"This heart thief… he's seriously a monster, I hope the police catch him soon." A boy said, with a very out of date bowl cut.

Lucas was striding over before he could stop himself. Akechi said his name but he ignored it, one of the group's males caught sight of him walking over and alreted the rest of them, they got stiff as he walked over.

 _They're on guard, that's good. May save their life one day._ Lucas plastered on his best smile as he stopped in front of them.

"What do you want American?" A boy with spiked hair asked, not hostile but not friendly, Lucas wasn't surprised, his clothes weren't exactly in the best of shape.

"Hello everyone." Lucas spoke in perfect Japanese. "I apologize for eavesdropping, but I couldn't help but overhear you're conversation about the heart thief."

"Oh… well, see for yourself American." The only other girl, one with black curled hair handed him her phone, on it was a news article about the heart thief.

His eye's widened in genuine shock, he couldn't really read the Japanese letters too well but the cover was glaring itself:

Bodies. Five of them, all murdered with their hearts carved out of their chests, blood painted the walls of the room the bodies were in, all with expressions of fear on their faces. Lucas felt sick suddenly. _Holy shit… What the fuck has my uncle done!_

"I… woah." Lucas said. "Thank you for showing me this, may I ask what the location of this place is? The crime I mean."

The spikey haired boy raised an eyebrow. "Did you miss it when you read the article dude? It's Chinatown, that's where the murders happened at."

 _Son of a bitch._ Lucas smiled again softly at the curly haired girl. "Thank you for the help. My apologies for bothering you."

The girl turned a bit red and nodded, and Lucas turned and walked back over to his teammate. "I heard all of that." Akechi said before Lucas could speak. "I already notified the team, they don't think we should go to Chinatown."

"I'm not surprised… my uncles becoming even more unstable. He's going to start making mistakes." Lucas said solemnly, they sat in silence for a moment before Lucas' eye's brightened.

"I have an idea." Lucas said suddenly.

"No." Akechi said immediately.

"But-"

"No."

"You don't even know what I was going to say!" Lucas said

"You were going to suggest we go to the crime scene which is a terrible idea." Akechi guessed, Lucas blinked holding up a finger before letting his hand sag.

"Knew I was right." Akechi said with a smirk. "What would be the point of going there anyway? There's nothing we could do anyway."

"*Sigh* You're not wrong." Lucas admitted. "Besides, if he made a mistake the police would find it."

"Exactly, you figured out why I said hell no." Akechi gave him a pat on the head, Lucas scoffed and moved it away.

"Oh you know I'm right, anyway our train is here." Akechi said, smiling as the train pulled into the station, the group from earlier got on the train chatting about some random subject while they sat down, Lucas laid down as Akechi stared out of the window, opting to sit opposite of him.

Akechi suddenly heard snoring and looked over, he wasn't really surprised to find Lucas already asleep, what with how sleep deprived he was, and how much he dealt with.

Akechi's phone buzzed in his pocket, just a random text from Ryuji about God of war and kingdom hearts 3 hype, he chuckled softly and went to put his phone up something on it caught his eye.

His news app, he downloaded it after he went into hiding to keep up with current dates, it's how he knew about Yaldabaoth, granted, a _god_ manifesting itself in Tokyo and trying to destroy the world isn't exactly hard to miss.

What caught his attention wasn't really the app itself, but the conversation that he overheard, so basically more like his thoughts (Didn't make much sense but he digressed). _The heart thief…_ Akechi thought, opening the news app he found the article at the front page.

He searched for the specific location. _Chinatown tenth street: The warehouse district._ He looked over the photo plastered on the front, searching for any abnormalities he found none, as far as it looked, the heart thief (Lucas' uncle) even in what seemed more like a binge killing was tactical and flawless. The mark of a professional.

Something felt off though… about everything, not just this incident. Christopher Takumi was an American lawyer for the SPD (Shibuya police department), would a _lawyer_ really be so skilled to be so flawless? He was insane, and killed so many.

But how the hell did he manage to kill five people at once so flawlessly? With no evidence left behind? Akechi's eye's widened and he sat up.

He scrolled through the article looking for names, the names of the victims, he grinned as he found them.

Nilo Mochizuki.

Kira Torizaki.

Daisuke Matakame.

Asahi Kuzaki

Akari Sakura. Four men, one women, most likely has nothing to do with the situation though.

 _These five people have no correlation to each other at all… no relatives, no friends of each other, no nothing_. Akechi thought. _Except for the fact that they worked in the same place… the warehouse district of Chinatown!_

 _But the question remains how the Heart Thief could kill them all at the same time with no evidence left behind anywhere_ _ **at all**_ _._

It hit Akechi and he shot up in his seat to a standing position, ignoring the odd looks from the group of teenagers.

 _It's so obvious!_ Akechi scrolled through the article. _They were all killed in different places and taken there, that means that the real crime scene isn't in fact the office building, but wherever they really died!_

"How long was this posted ago?" Akechi mumbled scrolling through the article, he grinned as he found the date.

 _One hour ago._ Akechi thought with glee. _When you take into account how fresh the bodies look, how long it took for them to be found (Which in this case the police were likely tipped off considering how fast they really_ _ **were**_ _found), how long it took for reporters to get down there, broadcast it on the news, and for journalists to write it (Which can be within minutes depending on skill)._

 _Then that means these murders happened within a span of three to five hours apart from each other in total, excluding the time it took them all to move over there._

 _Way to fast for The heart thief to do alone without leaving evidence, which can mean either one of two things._ Akechi summarized.

"Either The heart thief really did leave evidence at one of the murder sites because of lack of time." Akechi mumbled.

"Or the heart thief isn't working alone."

 **A/N: Hey fellas, this update took a while for multiple reasons, One: I was taking a break, I kind of burnt myself out a little bit and just had to take a step back.**

 **Two: It's august, which is the month of my birth, as of this chapter being posted it is well past my birthday, so I went on vacation and left my laptop.**

 **Three: Laziness, I'll admit I'm also kinda lazy at times so I procrastinate on a lot of things, even sleeping. Not healthy I know.**

 **ANYWAY, I just want to send my appreciation for all the reviews I got out to you guys, every review I read makes me smile. Because when I get a positive review or one that also has constructive criticism it makes me smile, because I realize that you care enough to give your thoughts, which gives me confidence as a writer. I deeply enjoy constructive criticism as long as it's not rude. (Because some people tend to be a bit of a dick when it comes to said criticism.)**

 **Also, the poll is still open, it will be open until the chapter after the next one. Just because I feel like that's a good closing point, also, I actually do have plans for the next chapter, it's kinda going to be just a bit of filler and downtime with all the characters (Which means romance, and not just Akira and Makoto, :D I've been dropping hints to others which I'm sure you've picked up) so it may take me a bit to write, just want to give you a heads up.**

 **Also, I want to give a story suggestion that I very much encourage you to check out, it's a story called fools justice by writer cosmic sky, it's really,** _ **really**_ **good, and very focused on a what if scenario with Akechi. It isn't cheesy, it's a good story with what I think is a very strong dialogue. I urge you to take a look because TRUST ME. YOU WONT REGRET IT**


	25. Chapter 25

**A/N: Hey everyone, I wrote this chapter while listening to Swear to my bones from Persona 5, to get the best experience, (in my opinion) try listening to it while reading this! Enjoy the chapter.**

The train pulled into the station with a loud screech that startled Lucas awake, adjacent of him, he saw Akechi smiling at his phone in excitement, it was a look that surprised the young American. In the time he'd known Akechi this wasn't a side he's seen yet.

"What's got you so happy?" Lucas asked, stretching out as he sat up, rubbing some of the sleep out of his eyes, it wasn't nearly enough. He still felt utterly exhausted.

Akechi looked up and shrugged his shoulders. "Just something I found interesting on the internet." He put his phone in his pocket and stood up, Lucas did the same as both exited the train, stepping foot back into the cold station of Chinatown.

"Alright, if we head straight through central Yokohama, we'll end up in Yamate, from there we branch off on a path and head up to a residential district." Akechi explained while walking, Lucas beside him with his hands buried in his pockets.

"I cant read most of this stuff…" Lucas said as they walked into central Yokohama, he looked around at all the food stands and restaurants, and his heart warmed a bit to see a couple of American tourists walking around with camera's wearing 'I 3 Japan' T-shirts, those same Americans actually taking surprised glances at Lucas causing him no small amount of amusement.

"If I remember correctly." Akechi started. "That you can speak Japanese perfectly but can barely read it."

"Yea, my mother taught me from a young age." Lucas said, he was looking away from Akechi off into the distance, his eye's were misty as if they were reliving memories he didn't want to.

"But if I recall when you first got here you pretended you didn't even know how to speak it. Why is that?" Akechi questioned, Lucas stopped abruptly and Akechi knew he hit a sore spot.

Lucas started walking again at a slower pace, he seemed to be contemplating something, Akechi was about to drop the subject when Lucas suddenly spoke again.

"You know how my mother knows Japanese and was Japanese herself, and how I have no Japanese blood whatsoever?" He asked, sending a sideways glance to Akechi.

Akechi put the pieces together quickly. "Your mother isn't really…" He trailed off.

"My mother isn't really my birth mother. I figured it out a long time ago, I don't know if they ever planned on telling me but… yea. My real mother is someone I don't know. I don't know if she's still alive or not either but honestly I don't care."

"But that doesn't explain why you pretended to not know Japanese when you got here, and now that I think about it isn't your uncle actually related to her?" Akechi pointed out, making Lucas groan.

"My uncle has zero relation to her, but he really loved her like she was family, he says he is cause to him she might as well be. Just like she might as well be my real mother, she even changed her name to a more American one." Lucas explained, he stopped walking again rolled his shoulders.

"I also pretended to not know Japanese because of that…" Lucas admitted. "My mother… when she died it broke me in ways that can never be repaired, and it made me have a strange hatred to her heritage."

Akechi's eye's widened. "You mean… you hated the Japanese?" Lucas laughed, a bit of red in his face.

"Past tense, I got over that stupid phase quickly when I got here. I think it was also because whenever I speak Japanese even right now it reminds me of her… and god damnit it hurts so bad to think of her."

"Because you loved her. And she loved you." Akechi said, not a question but a statement of fact.

"Yea. I did. When I'm alone with my thoughts they usually drift to her… it's funny, I loved my father, still do even though he technically killed her. But when I really think about it I loved my mom more, I loved someone that wasn't even related to me more than my own blood." Lucas admitted, beginning his walk again, Akechi right by his side.

"I wonder…" Lucas whispered softly, so softly that Akechi had to strain to hear. "I wonder if that makes me a bad person…"

Akechi couldn't answer that.

The walk continued in relative silence after that, neither one of them really wishing to speak, Akechi was thinking about The Heart Thief again, while Lucas' thoughts were occupied with what he shared.

And of course. His mother. _I'm a total momma's boy._ Lucas chagrined. _I wonder if you're watching over me. I wonder if you're proud of what I'm doing._

Lucas looked about the area again, really taking a deep look at the place. A smile coming to his face as he watched the happy faces of the Japanese people walk about, kid's running around playing with each other, couples holding hands in love, innocent and just living free.

A tear slid down Lucas' left cheek, but he quickly wiped it away. _So… this is what your life was like… right mom? How happy where you when you were still alive?_

He didn't realize how far out they were until Akechi nudged his shoulder. "It's this way." He pointed down a large pathway where few people walked, this pathway had a bunch of benches where elderly people currently sat at, the darkness and the light coming from the city and stars a comfort to them.

Lucas and Akechi walked past in silence, some of the elderly gave cursory glances at them but otherwise didn't acknowledge them, going on about their business without a care in the world.

"It's strange…" Lucas remarked. "You think since people have been broadcasting about you for two years people would react more to your presence, what with being an ace teenage detective and all."

"Well I _am_ in disguise." Akechi said, gesturing to himself. In place of his normal brown hair was a black wig, and he wore glasses with grey contacts, as well as wearing a white hoodie and blue gloves and blue jeans.

"It's… a terrible disguise." Lucas said, Akechi laughed.

"It would be more obvious if it was a _good_ disguise, reverse psychology. The act of doing the opposite of something." He said.

"So… bad equals good."

"Precisely, and it's even better since it's easier if people think I'm dead."

"How so?" Lucas questioned.

"Because if I revealed myself to be alive, all sorts of questions would arise in which I would have to answer. Taking time away from helping you guys." Akechi explained.

"But enough of that." Akechi said, walking up to a large building, easily the biggest in the area.

"It's… conspicuous." Lucas said. "Is this another case of reverse psychology?"

"Nope, this is Haru Okumura." Akechi said, a soft smile coming to his face at her name.

Lucas internally smirked at the sight. _He's in love with her._ He realized, Akechi suddenly took off his disguise, tossing the wig into a nearby garbage can and placing the contacts and glasses in their respective cases.

"Why are you…" Lucas trailed off.

"Because I don't need it in here." The brown-haired boy said.

Walking into the building they headed to a reception desk where an incredibly bored women of about twenty was sitting. She looked up at them as they walked in, laid her eyes on the both and suddenly looked a lot more cheerful.

"Hello Kazuma-san." She greeted warmly, then looked Lucas up and down, licking her lips a little, making Lucas' body heat up. "And who is this… _man_ here?"

Akechi put on a big smile. "Ah, hello Philia-san, this is my good friend Lucas. Lucas, this is the secretary of the building Philia Akamine."

"A-a pleasure." Lucas managed to get out, bowing in respect.

"Anyway, Philia-san, if you would excuse us we'll be going now." Akechi said, heading towards a nearby elevator, surprisingly enough though, Philia suddenly came around the desk and stood in front of Lucas, Lucas held back a noise as she suddenly got _very_ into his personal space. The barely veiled desire in her eyes.

"Kazuma-san, mind If I borrow him for a little while?" She asked, her eye's misty as she looked back at him.

Akechi shrugged his shoulders "That's not up to me. Lucas, my penthouse is on the top floor when you're done." He said, feigning indifference, however internally he was trying not to break down into a laughter so hard it would leave him light headed, in the very short time he knew Philia she was very aggressive about what she wanted.

Akechi stepped onto the elevator and let it close, finally letting the laughter come.

 **Line break**

Lucas' eye twitched in frustration at how Akechi left him there, but he had bigger problems to worry about, his eye's drifted down a fraction then he blushed.

 _Okay…_ Lucas thought. _Two bigger problems. Get it together Lucas and stop acting like a virgin when you aren't one._

Lucas took a very wide step back, Philia smirking at him as he did so. Taking the time to examine her Lucas had to admit. The offer was _agonizingly_ tempting. she was very well endowed and was incredibly pretty.

"I made it pretty obvious what I want, trust me. Nothing serious, and I can look at you and tell you have experience." Philia said.

Lucas' throat felt dry, he swallowed hard and spoke. "I don't make it a habit to… sleep with random women."

 _And besides, this is super sudden. I don't even know you._ Lucas thought. _How the fuck did I get myself in this situation?_

"Well, try it." Philia said smirking taking another step forward close to him. "Come on, it's just a one-night stand, you're young. There's nothing wrong with having sex."

She wrapped her arms around his neck and put her lips to his ear. "I'm also on birth control." She whispered. "You don't even have to pull out."

Lucas' breath became ragged. "You do know I'm eighteen, right? And still in school?"

She chuckled softly. "And I'm twenty. Nothing wrong with it." She whispered, she caressed his face gently, relaxing him. It felt good. He didn't realize he was so starved for touch until just now, it made him feel wanted. Needed.

He hadn't felt needed in so long…

He knew it was wrong, that he shouldn't, he barely knew her, she was a stranger. After tonight he was likely to never see her again. But her touch…

Wasn't… what he wanted. He was starved of it and part of his soul craved it, but he wanted the touch of someone that loved him. Not someone that wanted him for a single night of something completely meaningless.

Tonight, he wouldn't break.

Lucas' breath stilled and became even, roughly he pushed Philia away, a 'hmph' of surprise coming from her throat. He looked away from her as strands of his hair fell in front of his face blocking his eyes from her.

"It is wrong to act like this, at least that's how I see it. You are very attractive but don't push you're horniness on me, your not what I want." Lucas straightened his body and strode past her towards the elevator.

"What do you want then?" Philia turned towards him, Lucas saw her eyes and couldn't help but sympathize at them. They were cold, dead inside.

Just like his. The eyes of someone depressed.

"I don't know." He said, a sad smile on his face, as the elevator closed Philia wiped her eyes and strode back over to her desk.

Lucas let out a breath and put his back to the elevator, sliding to a sitting position as he listened to the silent noise of the moving contraption, he had half a mind to sleep in the elevator he was so tired, and a miniscule part of him wanted to go back down there and take her for himself for a single night.

Lucas knew though for some reason he stopped himself, he couldn't figure out why though. His phone dinged suddenly, a sign that he got a message. He took his phone out of his pocket and looked at it, a smile came to his face.

 **Message from: Shiho Suzui.**

 **Shiho: Hey it's me, I just wanted to say thanks… for coming for me.**

 **Lucas: Don't mention it.**

 **Shiho: Make sure to get plenty of rest, I was very worried about you.**

 **Lucas: You should be more concerned about yourself, you must be even more tired than I am, where are you now?**

 **Shiho: I'm at home in bed. And thank you, I will.**

Lucas decided to end the conversation there, the elevator opened and Lucas dragged himself off the floor and walked inside, he had never seen a penthouse himself and wasn't personally impressed with it, it just looked like a typical thing rich people would buy to throw parties and have sex in.

"Yes, I know it's risky for both of us but it's worth it, if I'm right then that means we can get a massive foothold into what the organization actually is." Lucas heard Akechi say as he walked around the corner, finding Akechi pacing back and forth in the penthouses kitchen area.

"You'll do it?! Great!" Akechi said, a satisfied smile on his face. "I'll see you tomorrow then Niijima san." Lucas raised a suspicious eyebrow, he hung up the phone and finally noticed Lucas standing there.

"Oh you're back, and I see you Philia is not with you." Akechi said, a teasing smirk on his face, he picked up a glass from the counter and started sipping a dark fizzy liquid inside it.

Previous suspicion was pushed to the back of Lucas' mind as he was faced with a new foe: Akechi's smartassness.

"Nope, I rejected her politely." Lucas said, then he smirked at Akechi. "Sooo…. How are things progressing between you and Haru?"

Akechi spewed soda and started coughing, Lucas burst into intense laughter as he watched Akechi lose any composure he had.

"Wh-what the hell are you talking about?!" Akechi demanded, his face red and voice an octave higher than normal.

"Other than the fact that you're totally in love with her by that reaction I can assume you've done nothing at all?" Lucas asked innocently.

"Go to sleep Lucas."

"Woooowwww. Chicken." Lucas teased, Akechi glared at him but Lucas wasn't deterred. "In all seriousness you know if you don't do something she might be stolen away, a pretty girl like her probably has a lot of people wanting her."

Akechi became somber, his eye's downcast as he cleaned up the soda he spilled. "She wouldn't ever think of me in such a manner." He said.

"So you do love her." Lucas said, he already knew but Akechi needed to confirm it.

"Yes… I love her. And I hate it." Akechi admitted, his heart beating faster at the thought of her.

"Why?"

Akechi laughed, a hollow bitter sound. "Because I'm borderline insane, Lucas. You didn't know me two years ago, I was… horrible, I killed a lot of people with my powers from… mental shutdowns. Including her father. All to further my own goal that I almost died for, _should_ have died for. I shouldn't be alive right now."

Lucas was silent the entire time, Akechi turned away but suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder, he turned and suddenly he wasn't looking at Lucas, the depressed lost American wildcard with an impossible destiny.

He was looking at Lucas the leader. "I wont lie and say that what you've done isn't horrible. It is. But as bad as you were back then I don't see that now. People can change if they really want to. I've changed. And in my eyes you've gone from Akechi the murderer to Akechi the redemptified. You may not have any chance with her, it's realistic to think so, but there isn't any harm in telling her how you feel."

Akechi was at a lost for words, he was at such a loss it reminded him of two years ago, when he lost the fight with the Phantom thieves in his father's palace, how they were willing to accept them, even after they knew everything. Even the current fire in the blonde boy's eye's reminded him of their leader at his best.

"Thank you… Lucas." He settled on, unable to say anything else. Lucas smiled and patted his shoulder, turning from him and walking off, most likely to find a room to fall unconscious in.

Akechi bit his lip and pulled out his phone, taking a deep breath to smother anxiety he opened a private chat.

 **Message to: Haru Okumura.**

 **Akechi: Okumura-san, I've been doing some thinking recently…**

 **Haru: Akechi-kun? This is a private chat, is everything okay?**

Akechi smiled at how quickly Haru responded.

 **Akechi: everything is fine, I want to meet up tomorrow to speak with you, just the two of us. If… that's okay? At 12:30?**

 **Haru: I have a meeting then unfortunately for Okumura foods, I do still have work outside of our activities as hero's of justice.**

Akechi's stomach dropped and his smile slipped away, he was about to put his phone away when he got another ping from it, what was on it made him grin.

 **Haru: however, that being said I would love to after my meeting, about… 4:30? I want to talk about what happened in the palace between us at some point, and tomorrow is best for that since it's still fresh in my mind.**

Akechi smiled so brightly that it almost hurt, he quickly typed out his response.

 **Akechi: Yes, of course! I will see you then. How about the diner on central street?**

 **Haru: That will be just fine, I'll see you then Akechi-kun. Good night.**

 **Akechi: Good night, Haru.**

He pressed the send button and put his phone away, smiling as he sat up at the kitchens bar. He would have to thank Lucas later for it, while Akira was a master leader in the metaverse Lucas had his skills with real life problems.

Akechi's mood turned solemn as he sat at the counter tomorrow, knowing what he was going to do early that morning with Makoto Niijima, and how risky it was for the both of them.

 _Sorry Lucas, I lied to you._ Akechi thought, a genuine remorseful feeling in his gut as he scrolled back through the texts him and Haru had just sent to each other.

He got up off the bar and silently walked to his room, however he didn't stop there, he strode into his bathroom and stood in front of the bathrooms mirror, his hands resting on the sink as he stared at his reflection.

For a brief moment, Akechi's reflection changed to that of a demon, one with a vaguely feminine shape, a snow-white mask with hollow black eyes and a frightening blank smile.

" **Soon my champion. You will be mine."** The mask spoke to him, it's voice distorted and sending shivers down Akechi's spine.

"Not if I don't use the power you gave me you monster." Akechi mentally rebelled, glaring at the mirror which held his demon.

" **Am I really the monster you think I am though?"** The mask spoke to him. **"Humanity wanted to die, I was just doing my duty to help them, truly in reality, the real monster is the seal, keeping me from giving humanity it's salvation."**

"You were never meant to be." Akechi growled. "You're only in existence because humanity fell into a dark place with no way out, it was the seal who brought their hopes back."

" **I am not malevolent child, the seal only stopped them from finally being free, but I am growing stronger each day, and soon the seal wont be able to hold me."**

"How do you know I wont just tell everyone what you're telling me now?" Akechi asked, sweat dripped off his nose, the physical exhaustion Nyx's presence caused almost made him pass out, but he bit the inside of his lip and pressed onward.

" **I want you to, I want all you're little friends to know there's no way to defeat me a second time."** Nyx taunted, stroking a black gloved hand across Akechi's cheek.

Akechi turned away from the mirror to stop her from speaking, but her voice went directly into his mind instead which felt even worse. **"You turn away from me, you're a typical human. What they turn away from, what they fear the most, that is what I am."**

"Please…. SHUT UP!" Akechi snapped, slamming his fist into the mirror cracking it, he could feel Nyx's presence fade away, but that didn't stop the laughter from coming.

Akechi put his back to the wall of his bathroom and slid down into a sitting position, they started off as snickers first few and far between, but they turned quickly into howling insane laughter, he shot up off the floor and looked in the mirror, a malicious grin on his face.

"You shit stain on humanity! I will personally tear you apart piece by piece and make you watch your own god damn body fall to the ground as I hold you're ugly head in my fucking hands." He screamed at the mirror, more insane laughter. He put his hands on his head and laughed some more.

Until that laughter turned to sobs, Akechi collapsed onto the floor in the fetal position and sobbed until he could hardly breath, eventually he just laid there, staring up at the ceiling with a blank look in his eyes, finally he got up and trudged over to his bed and collapsed into it, falling asleep immediately.

 **The next day**

 _I'm going to murder Akira._ Lucas thought, trying to ignore the snickers as he walked through the halls of Shujin, the uniform much to Lucas' chagrin, was very short in the legs and tight in the arms and shoulders, giving Lucas a bad case of high waters.

It was so embarrassing not even Futaba came near him, out of the corner of his eye's he noticed some of his classmates were mocking him, rolling their pants legs up and sleeves up and walking like him. He had to admit it was very disheartening.

That's why he was shocked when someone tapped his shoulder to get his attention, glancing back he saw Airi standing there, an inquisitive smile on her face.

"You wash your uniform wrong Lucas-kun?" She asked, tilting her head slightly to take a better look at him. The American retreating in on himself a little, face burning from embarrassment.

"I-it's a long story, one I don't feel like telling." Lucas said. "Is there something you need from me Kusunagi-san?"

As if remembering her original objective her eye's widened. "Oh right, here, you were absent yesterday, so Kawakami-sensei asked me to make a copy of my notes for you." She handed him a neat small stack of papers, he felt his heart warm when he realized they were written in the English language.

"They're…" he trailed off. Airi smiled and scratched her cheek.

"Kawakami-sensei also helped me translate them, I know a lot but some things were a bit too complicated for my level."

The bell rang, students started shuffling to there classes but Lucas and Airi weren't moving yet. "You… didn't have to do this you know." He said.

"Think of it as a peace offering, I said some very horrible things to you… my persona Aphrodite is capable of reading peoples thoughts and emotions in the real world, however I have to make their barricades fall down, that's how we learned about you, the only way I could bring you're down was if I-" Airi was suddenly caught up by Lucas putting his hand over her mouth.

"In the end there was no true harm done, you don't need to explain yourself to me, Airi, I forgive you." Lucas smiled at her warmly, he mentally noted that being something he'd done a lot more of in recent days.

 _His smile…._ Airi thought and let one of her own show. "Alright then! Let's go, were terribly late to class." Lucas nodded and turned to walk, Airi following behind him she took the opportunity to examine him.

 _People are picking on him about his current state, I can see why, I'm gonna interrogate him about it later._ She thought. _But then again, he hardly looks bothered by them, but he could be putting up a front_.

"Airi, you coming?" Lucas asked, snapping Airi out of her thoughts, she hadn't realized she stopped walking.

"R-right! Sor-" She stopped and her breath froze in her throat, the sun suddenly shown through the windows lighting up his ethereal eyes, making them shine like an amethyst star.

Her heart suddenly started beating faster, and her face turned red, her own eyes seemed to be magnetized to him and when he walked back to her she suddenly couldn't breathe, her eyes drifted to his lips and memories of a certain train ride sent shocks to her brain.

Suddenly Lucas clapped loudly in front of her face, and Airi finally snapped out of it. "Keep it together will you? I know it's early in the morning but still." Lucas turned once more and walked off, Airi following behind again with burning cheeks.

 _What the hell was I just thinking!?_

 **LINE BREAK**

"Shiiit Ann, I'm never helping you with clothes shopping again." Ryuji complained as he pulled an obscene amount of bags through Ann's doorway.

"No complaining! And besides, it's good training for you _and_ it helps me out." Ann said.

"Like pulling forty bags up three flights of stairs and into your home is good training! ugh I'm gonna dieeeee."

Ann rolled her eyes and pushed him, Ryuji stared after her, briefly watching her untie the pigtails from her hair that she loved, letting it flow in it's natural long curly form.

He found himself blushing and turned away from her, silently dragging the bags in the living room.

"Just leave the bags in there, I'll take it from there later myself." Ann called out from in the kitchen, Ryuji dropped the bags and collapsed on the couch.

"Hey where's you're caretaker at?" Ryuji asked, Ann had hired a caretaker when her modeling career started keeping her from home, however currently she was taking an extended break from work to help with the phantom thieves.

Ryuji didn't really have it easy, he had to balance both, granted he's been lucky recently to not have any meets, however he still had to balance training for it and fighting as a phantom thief.

"She's on vacation, it's just us two." Ann said walking out of the kitchen with a couple of sandwiches.

The idea of being alone with Ann almost shorted Ryuji's mind out, swallowing hard he took one of the sandwiches offered to him and bit into it, absentmindedly chewing he looked out of the corner of his eye and caught Ann looking up and down at him.

"Like what you see?" He teased at her, fully expecting her to roll her eyes and smack his arm like she'd always done.

He wasn't expecting Ann's face to turn red. A steely determination coming to her face. "I'm still a girl you know!" She said defiantly. "I'm gonna look at a hot guy!"

Ryuji's mouth went dry, the look on his face must have not been good because Ann seemed to realize what she said because suddenly her eyes widened, and she stood up. "I-I'm so sorry Ryuji i-i…" She turned and started walking away from him, her insecurities starting to boil as she walked to her room to lock herself in and wait for him to leave.

Suddenly she was being spun around. "Ryu-mfph!" Her eyes widened as Ryuji's lips pressed against hers, it took her a second to register what was happening. But instead of Ann pushing him away…

She wrapped her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss, Ryuji's hands wandered down to her lower back and pulled her even closer, suddenly Ann felt all of Ryuji at once and she couldn't get enough of it, it was like an addiction that she didn't want to go to rehab for.

Ryuji broke the kiss and stared at the girl he's loved for years, her eye's were unfocused, but she was still looking at him with an expression that made his body burn from the inside and made his legs weak.

They kissed again, during the kiss, Ann fumbled for her doorknob and pulled it open, dragging them inside without missing a beat Ryuji kicked the door shut.

Ryuji's last thought before they began was _I never want to lose this feeling._

 **LINE BREAK**

Akechi sighed again as the train pulled into Shibuya, checking his disguise in his phone camera one more time. Makoto and Akechi had secretly investigated the warehouse district, trying to find any clues possible in the short amount of time they had before being discovered.

 _Well more like me, since I'm still supposed to be dead_. Akechi thought. He didn't know what to feel, their investigation was unsuccessful, meaning Akechi's theory was completely wrong and he wasted both Makoto's and his own time, something he was sure Makoto would still be annoyed about later.

He was mad and glad about that, mad because the obvious, but glad because Akechi didn't know what he would do if he was right, what the phantom thieves would do if The Heart Thief really made a critical mistake (which he seemingly didn't). Or If he had a partner.

So short into looking and they were already at a dead end, his partner theory wasn't necessarily out, but there's not really proof of it.

 _I'll just have to swallow my pride on this one and say I was wrong._ Akechi groaned mentally, he despised admitting when he was wrong about something.

A beep from his phone made him stop and pull it out, he smiled when he saw who it was from.

 **Message from: Haru Okumura.**

 **Haru: I'm here, where are you at?**

Akechi bit his lip and typed his response.

 **Akechi: My apologies Okumura-san, I got held up doing something important.**

 **Haru: It's not nice to keep a girl waiting you know hehe.**

Akechi smiled and strode into the diner, looking around for the mane of pink fluffy hair he saw her sitting in a corner alone drinking coffee. He walked over and sat down, catching her attention.

She sent a small smile his way as she put her cup down. "Hello Akechi-kun." She said formally, there was already a thickness in the air that Akechi felt.

"Hello, Okumura-san." Akechi replied, smiling at the waitress that came over to him, ordering a coffee he rested his back in the seat, trying to get comfortable and expel some of the tension and nerves building in his body.

It was an awkward silence for the first few minutes, neither party really making a move to begin the conversation that they needed to have. Akechi took a sip of the coffee their waitress brought and cleared his throat.

"Soo…" Akechi trailed off, feeling at a rare loss for words.

"Why?" Haru asked, Akechi raised an eyebrow, Haru sighed.

"In the metaverse, you kissed me." Haru took the lead, a fraction of the tension releasing from the air. "Why did you kiss me?"

Akechi literally felt his words come back to him, he took another sip of his coffee then sat up straight. "Because… Haru, I… I've got feelings for you that go beyond just friendly formalities. This is something I've been thinking about for quite a while, and it's something I simultaneously hate and love at the same time. I know it's wrong, but Haru… Haru Okumura… somehow I've managed to fall in love with you."

Haru's eyes widened and she sat up, her lips slightly parted in shock. "Are… are you serious?" She asked, her voice contained disbelief.

Akechi felt deterred but nodded determinately. "Yes, more serious than anything I've ever felt about, you've managed to capture my heart."

Haru's lips trembled and her hands shook, her head hung low, unable to look him in the eye. "Akechi… I never even would have guessed you would have felt that way…"

"I know… and I know you don't love me back." He said, Haru's head shot up. "And never will. Not after how I ruined your life." Akechi stood up from his seat. "I'm truly sorry to burden you with this information… I will never mention this again, I promise."

Akechi felt a burning in his heart that threatened to consume him, but he managed to keep his head held high as he walked out of the diner, the bustle of Shibuya's streets doing little to comfort him, he put his hands in his pockets and began to walk.

He made it a few yards before someone turned him around, suddenly he felt a stinging pain, his eye's widened as he realized he was slapped.

By Haru Okumura, bystanders turned to watch the spectacle unfold, some taking out camera phones to record what they assume was about to be an argument.

"Y-you bastard!" She yelled out, Akechi was genuinely surprised, Haru _never_ cursed, then he realized she had tears in her eyes. "How can you just walk out like that after saying all stuff!"

"I-I thought-" Akechi stuttered, Haru flicked him in the forehead.

"You thought that I couldn't love you back after everything?! WELL YOUR WRONG!" She yelled, Akechi's breath froze in his throat and his insides felt mushy.

"Then, that means that you…" Akechi said breathlessly.

"I love you!" She said, a lot of people had begun watching the spectacle, and awes were heard all around at the public confession. "I shouldn't, I tried to fight it, but every nerve in my body was pulling me towards you, more than I could ever fight against, eventually I stopped wanting to fight against it, I started embracing it, and eventually I fell in love with you too."

"I love you. So much." Haru said, her face was burning with embarrassment, but her eye's held a confidence that pulled Akechi in, he smiled so brightly that Haru felt dizzy, Akechi gently took her face in his hands, more gently than anything he had in his entire life, and kissed her.

Screams and applause were heard all around, whistles and hollers but neither of the two could hear them, they were fully entranced by each other.

Off in the distance they didn't see the other power couple, Akira and Makoto grinning their heads off at the new development in front of them, their hands linked together and Akira kissed Makoto's cheek, so much love in his eyes that made Makoto's heart burn with happiness.

 **LINE BREAK**

Lucas sighed as he walked out of the schools front gate, the day had been rough and now he just wanted to relax somewhere.

He knew he wouldn't get that when he saw Akira Kurusu leaning casually against the wall outside the school, Akira looking up and waving at him when he noticed him standing there.

Lucas sighed and walked over to him. "Either your waiting for me or Futaba." He said, Akira chuckled.

"I'm waiting for you, Futaba's already gone, I need your help with something." He said.

"Is it important?" Lucas asked, leaning close he whispered. "Phantom thieves important?"

Akira smiled and waved him away. "Nah, it's nothing like that, it's probably not important to you, but it's even more important than that for me."

Akira started walking and out of pure curiosity Lucas matched his pace and started walking with him. "Where are we going if it's so important to you?"

Akira smirked. "You'll see, but we need to go to Shibuya for this." He said vaguely, Lucas raised an eyebrow but kept following.

After a thirty-minute train ride and a short walk to an underground mall, Akira stopped and inclined his head towards a nearby shop. Lucas looked at the name of the shop and looked at him confused.

"Oh right." Akira said. "You can speak it but you cant read Japanese well."

"Duh, I mean I know what it is, it's a jewelry and wedding ring shop." Lucas said, then blinked a couple times. "Wait, it's… a wedding ring shop! Are you about to…!?"

Akira rubbed the back of his neck, a sheepish smile on his face. "Yea, but I'm not to sure on a good one, I'm asking you because I fell like you'd be discreet, and because I also have the feeling you'd be good at this."

Lucas shook his head but couldn't help the smile on his face. "Does Makoto have any idea?" he asked, Akira then grinned mischievously.

"Nope, that's why engagements are a surprise you know." He said, suddenly he turned a bit hesitant. "You… will help me right? I know it's a bit to ask."

Lucas thought for a moment, weighing the options. "You know what? I will, come on let's pick out a ring for your girl." He said with a grin, dragging Akira into the store.

Akira laughed. "Why are you suddenly more enthusiastic about this then me?"

Lucas shrugged his shoulders and grinned. "Because I like seeing my friends happy I guess, as long as I get to record the entire thing."

Akira grinned. "Deal."

 **A/N: I hope I did well writing this chapter lol, romance and confessions are something I struggle with because I never have been in a relationship or have had someone confess to me, so I just wrote what I thought sounded romantic lol. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter cause admittedly I kinda did, not much plot movement, just romance and fluff which I feel like was needed from all the tension.**

 **And thanks for the bday wishes! I appreciate them!**


	26. Chapter 26

"Dude, calm down." Akira laughed at Lucas who was pacing back and forth. "How the heck are you more nervous than me?"

Lucas looked at him in disbelief. "How are _you_ not? Your about to propose to your long-time girlfriend!"

Akira had to admit he had a point, his initial nerves had faded away after they bought the ring, a fourteen-carat diamond with a gold ring base that costed so much Lucas nearly passed out.

They were currently waiting outside the police station the girl of his dreams worked at, the only reason they were standing out there though was because the rest of their friends weren't there yet, and Lucas who was nervous himself. (which was hilarious to Akira.) He was also just generally people watching, and getting endless amusement out of the glances some of the other people on the street were giving to his flustered American friend.

"I don't need to be nervous, it's called confidence." Akira said, smirking as Lucas took a few calming breaths. "How's your love life going by the way?"

Lucas looked at him with a raised eyebrow, rolling his shoulders in and effort to release the tension that had settled there, Akira pressed forward. "I'm about to propose to mine, Ann and Ryuji are probably dating in secret, Akechi is currently hiding from the press again after that loud love confession between Haru and him, and then there's you."

Lucas cocked his head a little like a puppy, a couple strands of his white blonde hair falling in front of his eyes. "What about me?"

Akira raised an eyebrow. "You're telling me that there's no one that's interested in you or vice-versa?"

Lucas thought about it for a brief moment then shook his head. "No way, there's no one in this world that would want to be with me, and I haven't really allowed myself to feel things for anybody."

Akira sighed and leaned against the building, ahead of him across the street, he saw the rest of his friends leaving the station all at once, except Akechi who was probably hiding somewhere still.

"Dude, you have to let yourself feel something." Akira said to Lucas who had noticed the others himself.

"I do feel things man, just not for anybody." Lucas insisted, he turned away and mumbled something under his breath, but Akira wasn't able to catch it. He intended to press more but was suddenly tackled in a bro hug by Ryuji who was grinning from ear to ear.

"Congratulations man, I'm the best man right?" Ryuji said, Ann smacked him in the head affectionately.

"Ryuji you idiot he hasn't even proposed yet!" She said, however the grin on her face was sparkling.

Haru and Futaba both gave him hugs. "I hope all goes well." Haru said, Futaba said nothing, but she smiled at him with shining eyes, tears of joy threatening to break through.

Morgana mewed and jumped into his arms, nuzzling his chin and purring. "Meoowwww! I'm totally psyched for this moment."

Yusuke walked up and put a hand on his shoulder, a pleased smile on his face. "I shall draw you a portrait of your wedding day my friend, it pleases me to see to lovers coming together."

Shiho gave a small smile and nodded her head, a subtle gesture. But a genuine one nonetheless.

Akira grinned and looked around, rubbing the back of his neck bashfully. "Thanks everyone, suddenly I actually do feel nervous, heh." He glanced out of the corner of his eye and saw Lucas standing by, awkwardly watching the exchange.

Akira smiled and walked over to put a hand on Lucas' shoulder. "We should give some love to the guy who helped me pick out the ring." Lucas' eyes widened, and he looked at Akira in confusion, who just smirked at him.

Akira took a step back as everyone swarmed Lucas and started giving him hugs and smiles and asking questions, the American looking thoroughly abashed.

Haru walked up to Akira with a sad smile on her face. "Akechi couldn't be here today sadly, too risky. But he does send his regards."

Akira waved his hand. "It's fine, I understand, what is he doing anyway?"

Haru shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know, he just said he had to check something that's been eating at him.

Akira hummed. "Well I'll ask later. Congratulations on your new relationship with each other by the way." At Haru's shocked look Akira smirked. "Me and Makoto were nearby when it happened, it was so fluffy. Like your hair."

Haru sighed and rolled her eyes, she walked back to the group and clapped her hands catching everyone's attention. "Alright everyone! We've loitered around long enough." She gave a side glance to Akira who rolled his shoulders and smirked. "We've got an engagement to get to."

Everyone began shuffling inside the police station, smiles and jokes all around, Akira in the back letting everyone go first, suddenly though a chill went down his spine and he stopped cold. Lucas who was beside him stopped as well and looked at him and smirked.

"And you had the gall to tease me." He quipped. Akira didn't listen however, he spun around and started looking, Lucas' mind went into detective mode, realizing something was wrong he started looking around as well.

Out of the corner of his eye he found his target, his lungs forgot how to produce air when he saw a mane of blonde hair, and furious not quite sane eyes staring him and Akira down, swallowing down the lump in his throat he nudged Akira.

"By the bus station." He whispered, Akira's eyes slowly trailed to his left, and cursed when he saw him.

"Christopher…" Akira growled, instinctively he stood behind Lucas to block him from Christopher's sight, which didn't do much due to his American friend's superior height.

Christopher started to slowly stride towards them, his glare twisted into something unholy, and Akira felt his heartbeat pick up.

"Get inside now, he cant and wont do anything to us there, too risky." Akira just about shoved Lucas inside trailing close behind, turning around he saw Christopher stop in the middle of the crosswalk, just staring into the building.

Christopher pivoted on his heel and walked back the way he came from, and Akira breathed out a hard sigh of relief. "Damnit, this was stupid and risky. I should have known better." Akira said.

"What are you talking about?" Lucas asked.

"Christopher, serial killer as he may be, and even though he nearly killed you is a dirty lawyer for the police. He was bound to show up here, as a matter of fact I'm honestly surprised he wasn't already here." Akira said.

"So… basically I should high tail it outta here before my murderous uncle does something drastic." Lucas summarized, Akira gave him an apologetic look and Lucas sighed.

"Alright, I'll go… I hope the proposal goes well." Lucas waved his hand and left the station, glancing around the area for any white blonde-haired people, he started jogging in the complete opposite direction of the way Christopher went.

Akira felt a pinch of sadness in his chest, he felt like he just shooed his friend off, and he kinda did. But he knew it was for his own good, pivoting on his heel he went to find Makoto and his friends.

 **LINE BREAK.**

Lucas had to refrain from looking over his shoulder every two seconds, he was already conspicuous enough, and it was times like this that he wished he had a darker hair color as to hide better.

He had texted Akira to let him know he was back in Chinatown, but had yet to get a response, stopping at a takoyaki stand he did his best to discreetly look around as he bought a stick.

Lucas took a bite and allowed himself to relax a fraction, his uncle wouldn't dare try anything out in the open around all these people, and he hadn't even seen his uncle anyhow, he glanced into a small souvenir shop that catered towards American people, and an amused smile slipped onto his face at some of the 'American items' on display, action figures, key chains and overly priced postcards.

A hand clasped onto his shoulder suddenly and his heart froze up, without bothering to look Lucas slammed his elbow into his attackers' stomach, a yelp of surprise coming from him, passersby turned to look as Lucas spun around and took a swing at him.

He stopped just in time before his fist connected and let out a breath of relief and mild irritation, he looked at the two girls accompanying him before leveling his gaze onto the capped boy.

"Don't sneak up on me, I almost hit you Junpei." Lucas said, a stern glare on his face.

Junpei rubbed his stomach and raised an eyebrow. "You did hit me though." He said.

Lucas ignored this, he promptly began to swap his gaze back and forth between the two girls with him. "Mitsuru, Yukari. To what do I owe the pleasure." He said with complete false cheer.

Yukari stretched her arms over her head. "Mph, someone's not in a good mood."

"Well I've kinda been on the run from my serial killer family member so excuse me if I'm not falling into your arms from joy." Lucas said dryly.

"Ehh, you'll love me eventually." Yukari quipped, to which Lucas gave her a blank stare in response.

Mitsuru sighed and stepped forward. "We have some things we need to talk to you about, you will come with us now." She grabbed Lucas' arm and attempted to pull him along and was mildly shocked when he yanked his hand away fiercely.

"I got a better idea." Lucas said taking a wide step back. "How about you leave me alone for a bit, I'm not in the mood to talk about my little destiny or getting your precious friend back, I'm tired. I'm hungry, and you made me drop my takoyaki." With that Lucas pivoted on his heel and made to walk off.

He got a few yards before a new face appeared in front of him and stopped him. He had a mane of grey hair and grey eyes, and for some odd reason had boxing gloves tied to his belt buckle, he was wearing a tank top that showed off his muscular form, he also had a band-aid just above his left eye.

Lucas would be a total liar if he said he wasn't the least bit intimidated by this newcomer however reluctant he was to show it.

"So… you're really about to force me to come with you by threatening me with this meathead?" Lucas said scathingly.

The newcomer smirked. "I wouldn't call myself a meathead, but I do tend to go on a rampage from time to time, rar rar and whatnot."

"Sarcasm. Lovely." Lucas deadpanned. "You got a name, or shall I call you old man?"

"Akihiko Sanada, nice to meet you. Lucas, I've heard a lot about you, particularly your fighting skill." Akihiko introduced.

"So you wanna fight me, is that why your group is calling me out?" Lucas asked.

Mitsuru put a hand on his shoulder. Lucas didn't shake it off this time. "No, that's not the reason. We came to you…. Because of your situation."

"I don't understand."

"You have… a shard of Nyx inside you… our friend in fact, Ryoji. And your other teammate, Goro Akechi has a shard of Nyx inside him as well, however it's malevolent." Yukari explained.

Lucas just about leaped away from them. "How the hell do you know that?" He demanded.

"Imagine our surprise when Goro Akechi contacted us and told us this information. And imagine just how valuable that made you to us." Junpei said.

Lucas grit his teeth in anger. _Akechi that bastard. He's a mole?_

"That's not the only reason we came to you, this other one is also of great importance." Mitsuru said.

"What." Lucas growled.

"Your serial killer uncle." Akihiko said. "We can help you take him down."

"And why would you do that?" Lucas questioned.

"Take it as a sign that were on your side, we both have the same goal." Mitsuru explained.

"And that is?"

"To save our friend from the situation he's in obviously." Yukari said with an eyeroll, as if it were obvious.

"Well while the offer is tempting no thanks." Lucas said, shoulder checking Akihiko on his way past. "We got it handled."

Junpei was suddenly in front of him again. "Is that why he killed five people in one night? Because you got it handled?" He sneered.

Lucas suddenly grabbed Junpei and flung him at the other persona users, only the latter's experience with fighting kept him from falling down, suddenly Lucas' body language turned very hostile.

But it wasn't at them, a couple feet in front of them stood the devil himself, or at least in Lucas' own mind.

Christopher smirked as he looked at his nephew. "Hello Lucas, my precious nephew."

Lucas gave him a withering glare. "I wasn't so precious when you nearly beat me to death, not your… usual M.O"

 _I shouldn't be taunting him, but I cant back down._ Lucas thought, Christopher's eye twitched, but he kept his smirk in place.

"Ah that was just a bit of… familial love, though I did go a bit far I admit." Christopher said in a light voice, a pleasant smile on his face as if he was discussing the weather.

Yukari stepped up beside Lucas. "Do you have these thought's when your cutting the hearts out of your victims?" The model asked, Lucas stiffened up.

Christopher's smirk still remained in place. "Thought I would be shaken up by that? Heh, come now, I know all about your group and what you do, what your secret is."

"Oh?" Mitsuru asked stepping forward. "Then you should know not to mess with us."

"On the contrary." Christopher said linking his hands together. "You shouldn't mess with _us._ I know you Phantom thieves have been prodding inside my heart, so I shall tell you that I am a nothing, just a pawn. I do our goddesses work by using human hearts as a sacrifice."

"Sacrifice?"

"Oh you would love to know wouldn't you?" Christopher said scathingly.

"So that's why you're a killer?" Lucas asked, his voice shaking. "Because It's what Nyx wants?"

"Don't you say her name you filthy bastard!" Christopher snarled. "I should have cut your heart out that night, but because your my sister's child I didn't."

"She wasn't even your real sister you delusional monster… and she wasn't my real mother." Lucas mumbled.

"Oh, she wasn't?" Christopher heard anyway. "Then tell me, why does she look exactly like me? Why is she the spitting image of both of us?"

Lucas' eyes widened, his body started shaking. His mind went back to his conversation with Akechi.

 _You know how my mother knows Japanese and was Japanese herself, yet I have no Japanese blood whatsoever?_

 _My mother isn't really my birth mother._

 _My uncle has zero relation to her._

Lucas felt a sharp spike of pain in his head, and he covered his ears with his hands to stop the sudden ringing.

"Have you figured it out yet?" Christopher asked, a shocking softness to his voice. "It seems that somehow your mind has been damaged, you can't even remember who you were related too, even though we look exactly like you."

Christopher looked at the other four Persona users. "Desist your actions. Or we'll have to kill all of you." With the threat in place Christopher casually walked away.

Lucas didn't acknowledge the threat, nor the existence of anyone around him, he had fallen to his knees, body feeling to heavy to keep upright anymore.

 _What… what the hell did that conversion chamber do to me? Did it destroy my mind and memories?_ Lucas thought, covering his eyes with his hands. _I said it so surely too, something happened to my mind!_

"Hey, Lucas." Yukari whispered and kneeled down in front of him. "C'mon get up, people are staring."

Lucas slowly lifted his head to look at Yukari, and her throat tightened. The bright sun had caught his eyes, which were watery from unshed tears, making them dance and glow like a purple ocean her pulse quickened when a single tear fell from his left eye and left a track down his face.

 _He's a beautiful crier, that is_ _ **not**_ _fair_. Yukari thought. She managed to shake away the red hue on her face and her thoughts and stand up to offer a hand to him, which he took.

"Nothing to see here move along." Akihiko said shooing the crowd away, it took a minute but eventually they continued with their business.

Mitsuru dragged Junpei and Akihiko to the side to speak with them, Yukari however stayed beside Lucas, a gentle hand on his back that for some reason she found herself a little unwilling to take away.

It wasn't until Lucas looked at her and smiled so gently that her chest tightened, and her face turned red did she realize what was wrong with her.

 _Oh crap, he's cute._ Yukari realized, her heartbeat quickened and her body caught fire when Lucas gently took the hand resting on his back in his. He stared at the entwined hands for a second as if in shock before gently letting go.

He looked up at her face and nodded his head, his posture suddenly stiff, the air between them had seemed to thicken with a tension Yukari didn't think she would feel for anybody else.

 _He's stiffened up._ Yukari realized. _Does he feel it too?_

"The help you could offer." Lucas blurted out catching their attention. "What does it entail?"

"Well it's simple, we already know that while your tampering around in his heart he's still roaming around killing people, taking innocent lives." Mitsuru's eyes hardened, and she clenched her fists. "That will not stand."

"So, while you're on the inside we'll make sure that he wont kill anymore people, those sacrifices will be put to a stop, and he wont touch you again, so you can focus on changing his heart." Akihiko finished.

"That sounds very sweet, which means there's a catch, there's something you want from us, from me in particular I'm assuming since you came to me." Lucas deducted.

"After this heart changing business is done, we want you and Goro Akechi to come with us. To Iwatodai." Junpei said.

Lucas whistled. "That's quite the price, I just drop everything here and come with you to help? What about the dark hour here? I'm the only one of my friends to have an evoker."

"We thought of that." Yukari said from behind him. "Airi is very strong, strong enough to handle whatever comes at her here on her own. The only reason you took her down back then was because you hit her with a surprise attack."

"Oh really?" Lucas said, an unbelieving tone in his voice.

"Really." Mitsuru confirmed. "She is strong enough to use some of her Persona skills in the real world, trust us when we say she's more than a match for anything that comes her way."

"You've convinced me." Lucas said, a look of relief passed over everyone's faces, but Lucas wasn't finished.

"I just have one question though."

"Of course, ask away." Mitsuru obliged.

"What makes you think I could be of use in Iwatodai, and why Akechi too?" He asked.

Mitsuru smiled confidently. "Because all of this started in Iwatodai, which makes it the source, everything there is much more intense then here, and because he also has a shard of death inside him, a part of Nyx herself, but the evil part."

Lucas was still a little concerned, but he couldn't find any lies in their words, they weren't telling the whole truth he felt, but he also didn't think they were expressly lying to him, with a little reluctance, Lucas held his hand out, which Mitsuru immediately took.

"You have a deal, I'll go with you, but you'll have to talk to Akechi yourself." Lucas said, a playful expression on his face.

Mitsuru for her part smirked. "Deal, once it's over contact us, and we'll come get you."

The Iwatodai Persona users began to walk away, leaving Lucas alone, however almost against his will his eyes seemed to drift towards a certain girl with brown hair, and his breath caught in his throat a little when she glanced back at him, Lucas for his part was suddenly utterly captivated by her large honey brown eyes.

She gave him a bright smile and turned away, breaking the trance Lucas was in, he blinked after her still for a couple seconds and shook his head.

"The hell is wrong with me…" Lucas muttered to himself and continued his journey to his current residency, a barely perceptual blush on his face.

 **LINE BREAK.**

"Ryuji… explain to me why almost every officer in the station is smiling at me right now, I saw you go around and talk to most of them, what did you say?" Makoto asked, a playful glare on her face.

Ryuji grinned and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "No reason really, we just wanted to surprise you and I got a bit carried away."

"We?" Makoto echoed, and on cue, the rest of her friends and her boyfriend walked in the room (minus Lucas and Akechi), Makoto instantly noticed a certain tension coming off said boyfriend in waves,

"Akira? Not that I'm upset by this at all, but what brings you here?" Makoto asked, kissing his cheek affectionately.

"Well… I… uh…" Akira couldn't seem to get the words out, Makoto found it amusing but at the same time concerning, he was sweating, and his eyes kept going in and out of focus.

"Akira what's wrong? Where are the others? Is everything okay?" Makoto asked worried, looking around for their American friend.

"No. Wait yes! Yes everything's fine, more than fine." Akira managed to say.

Ryuji rolled his eyes and patted Akira's back, giving him a comforting smile, Akira drew strength from his best friend and took a deep breath, turning back to his lover he opened his mouth to speak.

"Makoto, do you remember our first real date?" Akira asked her, Makoto nodded quickly, of course she remembered, she went back to the arcade with him and they played Gun About for hours, at the end when Makoto was getting frustrated Akira hugged her from the back, entwined his hands with hers and helped her aim, at the end when they finally one Makoto Jumped in victory and turned and kissed him, drawing awe's from people around.

She blushed at the memory, and Akira found the confidence to continue. "I know, it's been awhile since we were able to see each other until I came back, but it made me so happy to know our love for each other was as strong as ever, it's something in recent days I found myself wanting to lose less and less, and now, I'm certain… I don't ever want to lose it. I want to keep it for myself for the rest of my life. Because I love you, and I am that selfish."

Makoto's eyes widened.

Akira pulled the ring out of his back pocket and slowly went to one knee, his friends backed away to give them room, Haru was not so subtly recording. Makoto's eye's widened even more and her hands flew to her mouth, tears springing to the corners of her eyes. Her breath hitching to keep from crying.

"Makoto Niijima, I love you, I'm in love with you to a point where I'll never get out, and I don't want to. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?"

 **A/N: That might be my biggest dick move cliffhanger ever! I'm terribly sorry about not writing a chapter for so long, I've been going through a lot recently, with hurricane Florence, and my cousin passing away last Sunday I've had little motivation to write, plus I'm currently sick from the stress of it all.**

 **I know they are excuses, but they are all true, and I'm very sorry for not writing for so long, with that being said I don't know when the next chapter will be out.**

 **With THAT being said, I did really enjoy writing this chapter actually. It took my mind off it for a while.**

 **Anyway, thanks everybody for the reviews, I shall see you next time. On Persona ball Z!**


	27. Chapter 27

Makoto strolled around the police station in higher spirits than she had been in for a long time, the glimmer of the new diamond ring on her finger stopping her every few seconds, her smile positively beaming.

 _YES._ She had screamed and lept into her now fiance's arms, their audience cheering for her. _I'll marry you!_

She didn't have time to stay happy however, because suddenly, Christopher Takumi walked into the station, he was greeted by several other officers and prosecutors, making the younger Niijima sick to her stomach.

 _He strolls around here with that charming smile of his despite his crimes and gets away with them, even when he murders five people on a rampage he stays calm and collected._ She thought, a ball of vicious frustration in her stomach, part of her wanted to arrest him right there and then, but with what evidence? Her and Akechi had already (illegally) cased the scene of the crime and found nothing that could connect him.

His organization was definitely helping him cover his tracks for the human sacrifices, she idly strolled through the texts Lucas, Christopher's nephew had sent, telling them all about his most recent confrontation, and after further prodding from Akira, revealed that his memories were screwed up and broken from the brainwashing he went through.

 **Akira: So basically you have no idea if your telling the truth anymore when it comes to your past.**

 **Lucas: Pretty much, and I don't think I'll ever get those memories back, not that I mind much though.**

 **Ryuji: What the hell? How do you NOT MIND!? What about your mother? Do you remember that?**

 **Lucas: It's complicated, and I don't know how to explain it, all that matters to me is I know she loved me, whether I'm fully American or got a shred of Japanese blood in my veins I'm still human through and through.**

 **Yusuke: It would be a bit easier to ascertain the possibilities of your lineage with your last name, what is it?**

 **Lucas: ...I don't remember that at all, at one point I simply just hid it because I didn't like it, but after that shit went down in the meta-verse…. It was completely wiped from my memory.**

 **Akechi: That's rather unfortunate.**

 **Akira: YOU, are barred from talking to us Benedict. How much did you tell the other Persona users?**

 **Akechi: I did not tell them anything too. And I told them a lot yes, however I thought it was necessary, I do not think these new users are out to get us or harm us in anyway, in fact I think they can be of great assistance to us as we to them.**

 **Haru: While you have a point Akechi It was still very risky, I just hope they are on our side as well.**

 **Akechi: As do I, my love. As do I.**

 **Ryuji: Wait. For real!?**

 **Ann: AHHHHHHHHHHH!**

 **Futaba: Oh my god HARU SEPARATE CHAT!%^##^**

 **Akira: I'll be damned! Not bad Goro. Morgana is screaming right now.**

 **Haru: I love you too Goro.**

 **Lucas: I feel like the only single one here lol.**

 **Makoto: You could easily get a girlfriend with your looks.**

 **Akira: I got something I should be worried about?**

 **Makoto: Nope, my fiance.**

Makoto remembered her squeaking in surprise at the last text thread, and after completely obliterating Haru's phone in a separate chat, revealed that Akechi and Haru had gotten together romantically.

Makoto was happy for them both genuinely, but was also a little confused by the controversial feelings Haru had for the brown haired boy, he killed her father, and seemed to utterly _loathe_ him. But… much like how Makoto and Akira used to clash, love overcame the distaste.

A hand slapped onto her shoulder, and Makoto instinctively raised her right elbow to slam into the perpetrator's face, to her surprise however it was caught, and before she could attack again the perpetrator spun her around and jumped back

"Whoa Niijima-san! I come in peace!" Christopher said with a lighthearted laugh. Other officers were chuckling at Makoto's instinctive reaction. Red-faced, Makoto brushed strands of loose hair out of her face.

"My apologies Takumi-san. I do not like being snuck up on." She said in a tense voice. "To what do I owe the… pleasure."

"I know there's bad blood between us, considering… everything." Christopher said in a low voice and a knowing look in her eyes, alarm bells were ringing in Makoto's head. But she held fast.

"That's… a vast understatement." She responded in the same low tone. _You wanna play this game? I've learned from the best._ "So I'm curious as to why your speaking to me now."

"Well, to congratulate you on your engagement of course!" Christopher suddenly said, beaming. "I'm in my thirties and still single, shame."

 _Well, if you weren't a psychotic murderer you'd probably have a wife._ Makoto thought but didn't say. "Oh your a handsome man, you look much like your nephew and he's quite the looker, I'm sure there are some people _dying_ for you when they're near you."

The implications of her words were not lost on Christopher, and he rolled his eyes and smirked. "Amusing. But your engagement is not the only reason I'm here."

"Now this is even more interesting." Makoto sat in her desk chair, her heart was hammering out of her chest, and the alarm bells got even louder. "What do you need?"

Christopher smirked again and pulled out a remote with a single red button, Makoto's throat dried. "You seem to enjoy gambling with my organization, they don't like that."

"...Christopher, you don't need to do this." Makoto's breath was ragged. "Put that down."

Christopher ignored this, and he laughed loud and hard drawing the attention of other officers. "Oh, oh yes I do. It's time to make an example out of you."

"EVERYONE GET DOWN!" Makoto screamed, and dove away from Christopher, drawing her gun she rolled and shot at him, the other officers realizing the situation pulled out their weapons but it was too late.

Christopher was already gone, Makoto ran to a nearby window and looked out, somehow he'd gotten out of the building already, and was standing on the sidewalk, he was grinning right _at_ Makoto, the left side of his face was bleeding, and pedestrians were running scared from the gunfire.

"Niijima! This is _our_ example!" He said, and pressed the button.

Makoto dived instinctively, then the ceiling exploded, bringing the building crashing down.

 **Line Break.**

Akira was making coffee with Sojiro when he got the call, a gentle chastising could be heard from Sojiro.

"Hello?" Akira asked, he heard the operator. Akira stopped cold.

Akira leaned against the counter, all traces of amusement gone, Sojiro suddenly ran in front of him and grabbed him by the shoulders, Akira was hyperventilating, and he was saying something to Sojiro he couldn't hear, to which Sojiro's eyes widened and said something back.

Something Akira couldn't hear. He felt his world falling apart, every atom in his body splitting into pieces.

He pulled out his phone. Sent a text, sent another text, then another. Then dropped his phone and fell to the ground, curling into himself, Sojiro ran out of the store.

Akira took a shaky breath.

Then another.

Then another.

Then he put his hands in his hair and screamed until it hurt. Someone wrapped their arms around him, and Akira screamed more.

Akira felt a tear slip down his face.

Then another.

Then another.

Akira stopped breathing. Then he pushed himself to his feet and staggered out of the store and down the street, his feet taking body on autopilot as his mind broke down.

 **Line break**.

The others got the messages. Lucas' read small string of them with shaking hands, he was in Akechi's penthouse, Akechi was beside him reading the same messages from his phone.

 **Akira: Makoto…**

 **Akira: Everybody… Makoto….**

 **Akira: Hospital… critical. Building collapse, Christopher.**

There were bursts of messages from the others, asking for more clarity, however Akira didn't respond, didn't read them, eventually the texts stopped, and Lucas assumed that they were on their way to the hospital.

"This… can't be happening." Akechi mumbled, Lucas didn't respond. His heart burned with undying rage, Lucas went to the meta-verse app, about to go into the palace, but Akechi stopped him.

"We can't. Not right now." He said, his voice shook with emotion. "I want too as well. But we have no chance with just the two of us, we need to go see her."

Lucas grit his teeth. "Fine. You go first. I'll be right behind you."

"Lucas..."

"I won't go into the meta-verse. You have my word." He said quickly, Akechi stared at him for a few seconds, before taking his words at truth and taking off.

Lucas stood alone in the middle of the penthouse. "But I didn't say I wouldn't confront him… Sorry Akechi." Lucas walked over to a nearby case, pulling the case down from the wall he sat it on the counter and opened it.

Lucas stared numbly at the 1911 inside the case, a silencer, and two spare clips, Lucas took all of these, grabbed a coat to conceal the weapon and strode out of the penthouse. " Shouldn't leave weapons lying around Akechi. It's time for this farce to end, even if I become a monster."

 **Line Break**.

"Let me go!" Akira thrashed in the security guards grip, desperate and wildly in an attempt to get out, but the _goddamn_ bastard was too strong. "That's my fucking fiance!"

"Sir please you have to calm down!" the nurse on duty pleaded as Akira growled in frustration. "I promise she's in good hands, we'll do everything we can to save her."

"You _have_ to let me see her _please_." Akira went to begging instead. "PLEASE!"

"She's in surgery right now." The same nurse gently said, seeing that Akira was no longer in a fit. "I _promise_ we will do everything we can!"

Akira's burst into a sob that wrenched the nurses heart, and her and the security guard led him over to a chair which he collapsed into. His body was shaking again and the nurse attempted to comfort him.

"Sir no running please!"

"Get the fuck outta my way!" A familiar male voice snarled. Akira shot up out of his seat as Ryuji sprinted ahead of the rest of the group nearly toppling a nurse in his path to Akira.

"Ryu-" Akira was nearly knocked off his feet by the tackling hug his best friend enveloped him in, that broke the dam again, and Akira began to sob.

The others made it up to them and crowded around their broken friend. Attempting to protect him with themselves by shielding him. Everyone was crying however, so instead of them being a shield they just held each other.

"W-where's Akechi, Lucas and Shiho?" Akira asked, his voice cracked.

"Shiho is at work right now, her piece of shit boss wouldn't let her leave." Ann sniffled. "As for Lucas and Akechi-"

"I'm here." Akechi suddenly said, Haru instantly turned around and barreled into him, her sobs loud and unhinged.

"Hey… that guy with the brown hair… isn't that detective prince Goro Akechi!?" A nurse whispered to another, other staff and patients mumbling their curiosities.

"Didn't he vanish a couple of years ago?"

"Y-your disguise!" Akira said.

"I don't care about that shit." Akechi responded promptly. "...How bad is she."

"She's… she's in surgery, critical condition… the building collapsed… I don't know how bad it is because they wouldn't let them see her." Akira said, he began to furl in on himself, his arms around his stomach as if he was about to be sick.

"She'll be fine." Akechi suddenly said fiercely. Surprising the others. "She's strong. Super strong. She will recover from this I'm sure of it."

"There's… so many cops in critical condition." Akira muttered. "So many people dead."

"Families ruined..." Morgana said. "Lives lost… because of Christopher."

"How do they know it was him?" Yusuke asked.

"Security cameras, eye witnesses. And the citywide APB out on him now." Futaba said. "Hell, the news are already on it like white on rice, some of them are even mentioning the Phantom thieves."

"What the hell could they have to say about us?" Ryuji mumbled.

"Stuff about how they wished we were back, and that if they hadn't pushed us away we would still be heroes of justice, instead of gone from the world." Haru said. "I watched it too."

"Typical..." Morgana hissed. "When crap gets really real they ask for help from the people the ones they pushed away."

"That's humanity for you…" Akechi whispered. "Trash… a lot of them."

"Where's Lucas?" Morgana suddenly asked. "I don't see him anywhere, wasn't he with you?"

"He told me to go on ahead and that'd he'd be right behind me… Shit." Akechi pulled out his phone and clicked on his number.

"What are you doing?" Haru asked.

"If he answers he isn't in the meta-verse." Akechi mumbled. The others eyes widened.

"Son of a-" Ryuji began.

"Hello?" Lucas said through Akechi's phone, the others sighed in relief.

"Lucas thank god..." Ann said, rubbing her eyes. "Are you on your way here?"

"…No."

"W-what!?" Ryuji yelled. "Why not!?"

"Because I thought about it." Lucas said, his voice was calm, calm and hollow. "And now I'm done thinking. It's time I end this now. I've ran for long enough."

"Lucas what are you talking about." Akira asked.

Lucas continued on as if he hadn't hear him. "The taste of regret is so bitter, I waited to long and now Makoto could die. And it's my fault."

"Lucas… _no_." Haru said. "It's isn't your fault, none of this is _your_ fault."

Lucas laughed, a scornful broken laugh that could put Akechi to shame. "I should have taken matters into my own hands long ago."

"Lucas what does that mean!" Akechi said.

"Let's just say you shouldn't leave a gun lying around anymore Akechi." Lucas said.

"Lucas… Lucas _no_! _"_ Morgana said.

"It will be fine. I was planning to leave anyway to help the other Persona users." Lucas said. "I'm almost there. Gotta go."

Before anybody could respond, the click of the phone told them Lucas had hung up, it seemed louder this time.

"Go where..." Yusuke muttered, the others came to a realization. Akechi turned on his heel and began to run. Ryuji sprinted after him.

"We'll go and stop him! You guys stay with Makoto!" He called.

 **Line break**.

Lucas hated this house more than anything, well… almost more than anything. What he hated more was inside. Lucas checked the gun in his left coat pocket, flicking the safety off, and strolled up the steps.

He put his ear to the door and listened, he heard the shuffling of footsteps inside and his resolve strengthened by rage, kicked in the door.

Christopher jumped and spun around, and locked eyes with his nephew, who was staring him down coldly.

"Lucas..." Christopher said, a duffle bag was in his right coat pocket. "How did you know I'd be here?"

Lucas pulled the gun out and cocked it, Christopher's eyes widened. "I'm a lot smarter than you think, that and I'm a bit crazier than I thought, until now."

Christopher took a small step forward. "Lucas..." He said, the pop of the gun went off and a bullet shattered the window beside him, Christopher stopped cold.

"Don't move, next one I won't miss. Try me, I have no problem ending your life right now, all I gotta do is think about all the people you've killed." Lucas said.

Christopher took a step back to his original spot, his hands in the air. "What do you want?" He asked, his voice attempting to formulate a reasonable tone.

"Why, why did you blow up the police station, why did you try to kill Makoto!" Lucas yelled, his voice quaked with rage, and his grip on the gun tightened as sweat dripped down his face.

"I _had_ to, Lucas." Christopher responded. "You guys kept tampering in our business, and we had to make an example out of you somehow."

"That's one hell of a fucking example!" Lucas laughed angrily. "Kill almost thirty cops, critically injure forty more! Do you not realize just how fucked up you are!?"

"Say's the boy who's holding a gun at his uncle."

"YOU FUCKING KILLED PEOPLE!" Lucas yelled. "For a goddamn desire that's so fucking petty! How many lives have you ruined just being a fucking pawn!"

"I DID WHAT I HAD TO DO!" Christopher yelled back, his voice no longer carried any tone, it was loud and violent, and it served to enrage Lucas even more. "For despair! The more despair this world feels the more Nyx gets stronger and the weaker that seal gets! Once she breaks out from all this worlds despair she will steal the shard back inside your body and that fucking false detective and destroy this world! If you break the seal our plans fail! And we can't allow that! So we do what we fucking must!"

"Well, you won't be part of this anymore." Lucas said. "Because once you die, I will go after everyone else in your organization, and I'll take them down too."

"You wouldn't dare shoot me." Christopher taunted. "Your not capable enough."

Lucas chuckled darkly, and Christopher's eyes widened. "Yes. I am."

"LUCAS NO!" A voice behind him called.

Lucas pulled the trigger.

 **A/N: Hello everyone, it's been awhile, I had to take a break from this story, I was badly burnt out, and any spark I had faded away for a long time. But I'm back now, and I took this chapter in a completely different turn than I was originally going too. Nothing here at all is the same, and all this came off the top of my head.**

 **If you have waited all this time, i'm truly thankful for you, I just needed some time away from here, I haven't stopped writing fanfiction, hence my other two newer stories like Undying and Scion of the blue flame. But i'm back.**

 **Once again, I don't know when the next chapter will be out, I actually have responsibilities now to deal with, but I promise you. This story wont end, especially after this chapter, this chapter is a bit of a turning point for me. It's all about how I handle everything now.**


	28. Chapter 28

Lucas made the mistake of turning around, his blondes friends voice causing him to hesitate.

That was a mistake, as Lucas turned around his ears exploded due to the sound of a gunshot, and his vision went as red as Ryuji's chest, the blonde sprinter was knocked off his feet by the bullet's impact, and Akechi caught him midway, causing both of them to fall down.

Lucas turned around pure rage driving him and shot his own gun four times. But the bullets only impacted the wall where Christopher used to be.

"Ryuji! Just hang on!" Akechi yelled out and began dialing a three digit number on his phone.

Lucas looked around, mind hazy with anger and despair, only to realize that Christopher completely disappeared. Out of thin air.

Lucas didn't hesitate, he couldn't be sure but he didn't hesitate, he pulled out his own phone and disappeared as well.

Into the Metaverse. Akechi tried to stop him but couldn't because he was on the phone with the operator, who was asking for his address. Akechi began to compress the gunshot wound as best as he could to stem blood loss, thankful that the bullet seemed to cleanly pass through at the very least.

"Just hang on Ryuji, help is on the way." Akechi said to the comatose blonde.

 **Line Break.**

Lucas didn't appear in the castle like he expected, instead of the tower he in fact appeared dead in the middle of Shibuya, bodies littered the streets, but his focus was on the one thing he hated more than anything else, who was staring back at him with a nervous, manic expression. It wasn't the shadow version, but the real deal.

"This is the end of the road for you, Christopher." Lucas said, his voice was cold and detached.

"I don't know how you guessed I came in here. But it wasn't a good idea." Christopher took a step back.

"I know." Lucas smiled. On Queue, the world around them cracked and split, buildings creaked and groaned, and a loud crash like an atom bomb let Lucas know a skyscraper had collapsed somewhere. "You came into your own palace, the world inside your dead heart, and because of that this world is breaking apart."

"I had some idea as to why my world was breaking apart… but this is worse than I expected." A voice behind Lucas spoke, eerily similar but yet distorted Lucas didn't even blink.

Christopher on the other hand looked past his nephew in surprise, he'd figured out he had his own shadow world long ago, but never had actually been into it. Until now.

"Your… me." Christopher said to his deformed shadow. His shadow other throwing his head back and laughing.

"No… Your _me_!" Shadow Christopher lunged, and this time Lucas did flinch, he dived out of the way just in time for Shadow Christopher to grab the regular one by the throat.

"I never thought I would get this chance… To hunt myself." Shadow Christopher growled at his real self, and Christopher struggled to break free but couldn't.

"W-what the hell are you doing!?" Christopher choked out, his throat slowly being crushed by his shadows grip. "H-he's the one we should be worried about!"

"You come into _my_ world, and begin to shatter it's very being by _your_ mere existence, if I consume you… fuse with you… I wonder what would happen? How much power would I gain?" Shadow Christopher ignored the words his real self spoke, and stroked his cheek with his right thumb.

Lucas had enough of waiting. "You both won't get that chance. Screw this change of heart stuff, getting you to confess for you crimes, I'm going to kill both of you here and now."

Lucas felt power welling up inside him, and his Persona burst out of his body, in front of him was Grim Reaper, however he looked radically different than before, instead of the skeletal body he had before, he was now flesh and blood, he was packed with muscle, and in his hands he held two hybrid type weapons, some sort of mix between a sword and a scythe. His cloak was still tattered and his hood over his head hid some of his face, but it was still him.

Still Grim Reaper.

"R-Reaper?" Lucas asked, taking a small step forward. Lucas touched his face and was surprised to find that he didn't have a mask anymore.

"Master… your finally realizing your true strength." Reaper said, his face had a smirk on it. "No longer do you hide behind a mask, for you are no phantom thief, one that hides in the shadows." Reaper turned back to his two foes and spun his blades in his hand.

"But a king! A conqueror! Hear my true name, Reaper the Conqueror!" His Persona said.

A strange feeling spiked through Lucas' brain, and his dual scythe in his hands began to change, morphing into the same two hybrid scythe-swords that his Persona had, straight black with red flame patterns running along the scythe part of the blades.

"A power boost means nothing." Shadow Christopher said confidently, the hand around the real Christopher's throat began to glow black, and Christopher began to scream in agony. "When you have a world where rules don't matter!"

A bright light enveloped the area around them, and Lucas was forced to look away, even though he heard his uncles screams hit a crescendo he couldn't look forward. When the light faded Lucas' eyes widened at the sight.

His uncle was gone… No… not gone, but fused with the shadow of himself, forming… himself, no notable changes were made except for the fact that one eye was yellow, while the other was Christopher's natural color, and the fact that he looked stockier and beefier.

Somehow that was more nerve-racking, instead of some gross abomination to represent the evil inside himself, Christopher was so evil that he simply looked like himself no matter the change.

"You see, boy?" Shadow Christopher asked. "In this world, _in my_ world. I can do whatever I want, be whatever I want. You can't stop me, I am invincible."

Lucas remembered the pain and fear on Akira's face, as he wondered about his fiance's condition, the rage he felt and the despair when he thought that Ryuji might die from the gunshot wound inflicted on him. And he felt his body burn with power, that power transferred from himself onto Reaper the Conqueror, seemingly making him stronger also.

"Everything you care about, desire, your power, your dreams and aspirations… I will take it all away, along with your _pathetic_ life… this isn't for me, a King doesn't get angry for himself, he gets angry for his people. This isn't for me… this is for all the lives you've TAKEN!" Lucas screamed out.

The world began to crack even more, skyscrapers around them fell, catching themselves on each other, glass and rubble began to rain down around them, but Lucas ignored It all.

Lucas brandished his blades. "It's just you and me, I will kill you."

"I'd like to see you try!" Shadow Christopher lunged forward, he feet shattering the ground around him with each stomp.

Lucas dashed forward, ignoring Reaper's calls and swung his weapons, meeting Shadow Christopher's strike with his own blades. Lucas expected his weapons to slice through his foe's fist, but instead it was like colliding with a building, the resounding impact ricocheting through the street, shattering windows and making the already unsteady buildings all the more weak.

Lucas payed this no heed, his own anger fueling his every action, he swung both of his unique weapons and missed once as Shadow Christopher leaned away from the strike, pivoting, Lucas swung his blades again as fast and hard as he was able, deeply cutting his foe.

Shadow Christopher grunted and flipped back, kicking both the swords out of Lucas' hand, landing on his feet he immediately lunged forward and slammed his fist into his nephew's stomach.

White hot agony blistered it's way through Lucas' body, and Lucas was positive that if it wasn't for Reaper the conquerors power, he would have had all his ribs shattered right then and there. Lucas was launched straight through a car and into a stone pillar, hitting the pavement in a heap.

"H-How?" Lucas coughed blood into his hand. "How are you so strong!?" he demanded, Reaper manifested in front of his master, his stance defensive, protective.

"Because child, this is _my_ world." Shadow Christopher lunged, Lucas raised his hands instinctively.

Reaper suddenly roared and charged forward. Lucas' eyes widened as his persona's dual blades exploded into light needles and struck Shadow Christopher all at once.

Reaper slammed his fist into the jaw of the shadow, and suddenly the light exploded in every direction. A single phrase popped into Lucas' mind, and he mouthed the words to himself as Reaper finished off the attack, hundreds of light needles began to form from the propelled light around Shadow Christopher, as he looked around in surprise, struggling to break free from the grip of Reaper the conqueror. Then, those needles began to drive into Shadow Christopher as he screamed in pain.

"Judgment needles..." Lucas mouthed. Reaper leaped back and watched as the needles continued to stab themselves into his masters uncle.

Lucas relaxed a fraction.

That was another mistake.

Suddenly, Shadow Christopher let out a loud scream that pierced Lucas' ears, and those light needles suddenly exploded back into light particles gathering in the palms of Reapers hands, morphing back into his two scythe-swords.

Lucas felt fear, stronger than any anger he could muster up. Not even the anger that driven him to try to kill his uncle was enough.

Standing in front of him and Reaper, was a twelve foot tall white werewolf with mangy fur, black and red eyes, snarling like a demon.

No… like a werewolf, because even demons are less terrifying than something that can change at will…

"I am through playing these games..." the werewolf said. "Because of my fusion… I can now access my strongest self… it was fun my nephew, but now it's time to die."

The werewolf swung his giant clawed hand, slicing straight through Reaper like he was nothing.

And Lucas' chest, blood sprayed out in a long red arc and Lucas fell back, his vision already going dark.

"The heart of my nephew… I wonder how it would taste..."

 _This… is it…_ Lucas thought, surprised that he was still even the least bit aware, he no longer felt pain, he no longer felt anything, which he decided in a split second it was a good thing.

 _At least I don't die in agony…_

 _ **Your not going to die at all.**_ A voice said, Male, familiar despite him only hearing it only one time.

 _ **Are you sure you want to try this? He might not accept it, and this is a complete out the butt theory and possibility.**_ A different voice said, completely unfamiliar, also male, yet somehow Lucas still had the idea who it could be.

 _ **We have to try….**_

 _ **Line break.**_

 _Lucas opened his eyes and shot up, instantly knowing where he was due to the familiar sand on his body._

 _However, it was radically different, the sky was no longer bright and clear blue, it was completely black like night with no stars or moon, all around him in fact, was nothing but darkness, the only color leading into an endless abyss being the golden sand around him._

" _What's… going on…?" Lucas mumbled._

" _Your dead. Or almost dead." A voice behind him said. Lucas startled and whipped around, locking eyes with a boy about his age, with swept back black hair, blue eyes and a beauty mark under the left one._

" _Your… Ryoji Mochizuki, the shard of death trapped inside my body…" Lucas realized, Ryoji smiled sadly at him._

" _That's right… unfortunately before your death I wasn't able to come out to help you again…" He genuinely looked heartbroken by the words he spoke._

" _Wait… you said I'm almost dead… and then you said im dead. Which is it? How am I speaking to you if i'm dead?" Lucas asked, confused._

 _Ryoji looked thoughtful for a moment. "Look around you…" He gestured suddenly. Lucas did so. "What do you see?"_

 _Lucas raised an eyebrow. "Nothing, it's all black except the sand, Igor isn't even here anymore."_

" _That's because your still alive, but too far gone, brain dead would be the closest example, there's no saving you. Your body could recover but your mind is already gone. I'm sorry. Your cognitive world is dying, so Igor was forced out of here."_

" _Then… then why are you still here?" Lucas' voice cracked, the reality of what was happening hitting him, and he began to shake._

" _We." Ryoji said._

" _What?" Lucas asked, then realized. It wasn't Ryoji who spoke. Appearing beside him, still crucified, but there all together, was Makoto Yuki, the seal._

" _H-how."_

" _We three are all connected, I was once a part of Makoto-san, while I'm now a part of you." Ryoji explained._

" _And that's… probably the only reason your still even partially alive." Makoto said._

" _It doesn't matter..." Lucas suddenly said. "I'm dying… no… I'm dead. This conversation doesn't matter."_

" _There's a reason your here." Ryoji said quickly. "There's a chance, a small chance. Albeit, and it's likely that it isn't even possible, shouldn't be based on the laws of reality itself, but if Tatsuya can recreate the universe, then I have to try."_

" _Who's Tatsuya?" Lucas asked, Makoto surprisingly, looked curious as well._

 _Ryoji smiled fondly. "It would take to long to explain, he's a legend. that's all you need to know."_

" _What…. What can you attempt to do?" Lucas asked, Ryoji took a deep breath and narrowed his eyes, Lucas opened his mouth to ask him what he was doing when suddenly a light flashed in the middle of the three teenagers._

 _The light faded and suddenly, floating in the middle of them was a large jagged piece of matter._

" _This is the shard inside of you… in a sense… it's me. In an inanimate form, I'm not sure if it would work, but my plan to keep you… sort of alive is to switch your souls."_

 _Lucas felt his legs wobble. "Switch our souls… you mean to replace my soul with Makoto Yuki's?"_

 _Ryoji nodded. "If I switch your souls, Makoto's soul will go into your body, and repair your body… but there's a massive catch."_

" _I get it." Lucas said quickly… "I give up my body, my soul and consciousness becomes the seal for Nyx... while Makoto's soul and consciousness goes into my body, and his soul repairs my body. And he lives on, with my body."_

 _Ryoji's eyes widened. But Makoto spoke. "You don't have to do this." He said._

" _Makoto-san there is **no** other way." Ryoji said, his teeth bared._

" _Dont give me that Ryoji. You said it yourself that this could be absolutely meaningless, you are attempting to bend the laws of reality, and if you fail all three of us will be obliterated." Makoto snapped._

 _Suddenly, he lurched and groaned in pain. "D-damnit… it's taking a lot of my strength to stay here and hold Nyx back. We don't have much time before I have to go."_

" _How did you even come to the conclusion that this was a possibility?" Lucas asked Ryoji._

" _You two both had my essence inside of you at one point… as… weird as that sounds moving on: That gives you a deeper connection than you'd think, just Makoto being able to be here means that you two are connected."_

" _And even if we had a different way to get Makoto back… how would we get his soul and consciousness into a body he probably doesn't have anymore..." Lucas mumbled._

" _There's one thing though." Ryoji said. "That will make this the best chance of it working, I don't know if I can do it, but if I can, I get the feeling that I cant do it alone. You have to **want** it Lucas."_

" _That's a load of bullshit!" Lucas snapped. "Who could **want** to let their soul and consciousness be ripped away from them!?"_

" _The selfless people." Ryoji said sternly. "The people who won't hesitate to sacrifice themselves for others… I would do it myself if I were in your position, because I know it'd be worth it, and I know your like that, I know Makoto-san is like that too because I've been a part of both of you!"_

" _I… I don't want to die." Lucas admitted, tears began to come out of his eyes._

" _I wish there was another way." Makoto said. "But-"_

" _But nothing." Ryoji interrupted. "You have to make a choice Lucas… I won't force you, I cant."_

' _I have one last question..." Lucas said, and locked eyes with Makoto. "What are you going to do with my body if this works?"_

" _I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't want to indulge myself, I haven't been free in a long time, but I promise you I'd find away to get your body back and mine. Because you don't deserve this, I don't either." He said immediately._

 _Lucas stared at him for a moment longer. "I believe you. Wholeheartedly." He smiled at Makoto despite the situation._

 _Lucas stared at the shard of death floating in the air, almost tranquil in it's appearance. He walked up to it and reached out, and it instantly floated softly into his hand, it felt strange in Lucas' hands, he was expecting it to feel sharp like it's jagged appearance suggested, but instead it was soft, almost like he was holding air in a physical form._

" _If this doesn't work..." Lucas trailed off._

" _Then all three of us die." Ryoji said. "Not like that wouldn't be a possibility anyway even if we weren't doing this."_

 _Lucas laughed hollowly. "Yeah, your right…. What… what would happen to you?" he asked Ryoji._

" _That's more than one last question." Ryoji said with a smirk, then his face grew serious. "If it doesn't work?"_

" _If it **does** work… what would happen to you?" _

_Ryoji shrugged nonchalantly, but it was artificial, fabricated, Ryoji was scared, scared because he didn't know._

 _ **So… regardless of the outcome Ryoji may still die…** Lucas thought, somehow, that gave him strength._

 _Lucas took a deep breath, and let the shard go, it floated away from his hands peacefully…_

" _Okay…" Lucas eventually said. "This… this is my destiny after all."_

 _Ryoji looked immensely relieved, but also sad, Makoto looked so regretful that it physically hurt, but in the deepest part of his eyes was something almost foreign to Lucas now-a-days: Hope, he was truly sad, but he deeply wanted this._

 _Their reactions made Lucas' resolve grow stronger, almost as if he was feeding off of their emotions. Maybe that's why he was so calm despite all of the ways it could go wrong, why despite all of this happening he was able to stay strong, as strong as he could._

 _Because he wouldn't die alone if they failed._

 _ **Line break**_

" _Are you ready?" Ryoji asked them. They both nodded, calmly, it surprised Ryoji. But it made him also admire the wild cards even more._

" _Lucas… thank you." Makoto suddenly said. Lucas waved him off, his eyes were shining with unshed tears, but his mouth was turned up in a smile._

" _Just… don't die with my body alright?" Lucas said._

 _Ryoji stepped forward and closed his eyes, holding out his hands to both wild cards and began to mumble something._

 _Lucas began to feel strange, as if he was being pulled in several different directions, it didn't hurt, but it felt like as if his entire body was on pins and needles, Makoto was having a very different experience._

 _Suddenly, Ryoji's hands burst with light and Lucas and Makoto fell unconscious._

" _Reality, bend to my will just as you bent to Tatsuya, give me the power I need, lend me the strength to switch these souls for their greater purpose."_

 _The world, darkness that enveloped everything began to stumble and shift in upon itself, resisting. Ryoji felt a chill go down his spine, and from behind him a voice spoke._

" _ **My foolish son."** The feminine voice spoke **. "You really think you can harness reality? You are doing nothing but freeing me faster, when all three of you die my darkness will envelop this world, consuming it."**_

" _Mother… that's always been your downfall. **"** Ryoji said, Nyx realed back suddenly as Lucas' dead cognitive world exploded with light that shimmered and danced, as the darkness began to somehow merge with it, creating something foreign even to him, and It began to envelope Lucas and Makoto. Ryoji felt hope surge through his body, something that shouldn't exist considering what he was._

" _ **What is this!"** Nyx hissed._

" _This is reality, shifting, reality is light and darkness itself, it is the world, and the world is it. Like I said mother, that's always been your downfall… you underestimate. You underestimate everything."_

" _ **Your a fool to think that this little light show has worked!"** Nyx attempted to move forward but was suddenly pushed back._

 _The same light that enveloped the two wild cards began to slowly envelop Ryoji, as if it was letting Ryoji speak. "It did work, Tatsuya essentially recreated us, I just did the same thing, if it didn't work… mother, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now."_

 _Ryoji smiled one last time. Bending reality itself one last time. "Begone, false Arcana, Reality doesn't want you here." Ryoji held his hand out and light and dark power surged forward, Nyx retreated back and disappeared before it reached her._

" _You underestimate one more thing mother, your biggest one. You underestimate the power of humanity's will." Reality's darkened light enveloped Ryoji._

 _And reality changed everything._

 **A/N: Dude, college fucking sucks, HOLY CRAP. So much work is taking away like all my time. Anyway, I decided to do something… massive with this chapter. This chapter changes almost the entire story.**

 **Well… except for one thing, I kinda always meant for Lucas to die, I didn't really know how to go about It though, this is basically my declaration, the pole however about Lucas' love interest, wasn't useless, I still have a plan for that. you'll just have to see.**

 **Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and if you didn't… well I dont know what to tell you.**


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